UK UK - Pamela Exall, 21, Snettisham, Norfolk, 27 Aug 1974

[Al Ka]

The Doe Network:
Case File 2466DFUK

Pamela Exall

Missing since August 30, 1974 from Snettisham, Norfolk, United Kingdom
(some articles state date as August 27)
Classification: Missing

Vital Statistics

• • Age at Time of Disappearance: 21 years old
  • Clothing: Blue jeans, a leather jacket and brown suede shoes.

Circumstances of Disappearance

Pamela Exall disappeared from a Snettisham's Diglea campsite on August 30, 1974.

Pamela, her brother and a friend, had stopped off at Snettisham for the bank holiday weekend toward the end of a touring and camping holiday. One of them made a phone call from a phone box near the sailing club before the two boys returned to their tent. But Pamela decided to have a walk along the beach because it was a nice night and that was the last anyone saw of her.

Pamela was last seen at 22.30. Her brother and friend, both 17-year-olds, discovered she was missing when they checked her tent the following morning. All her possessions were still in the tent.

Pamela, who had just graduated as a Bachelor of Arts from Kingston Polytechnic and was hoping to take up a job as a solicitor's articled clerk with Berkshire County Council, had phoned her mum on the Friday evening that the trio arrived at the Diglea site. She told her she had had a lovely holiday, and expected to arrive home at Fleet in Hampshire on the Sunday evening.

Extensive searches in the area where Pamela was last seen found no trace of the missing girl. When Miss Exall, from Fleet, Hampshire, went missing police considered four possible reasons for her disappearances. Along with the possibility she had been abducted and killed, they investigated whether she had been swept away at low tide, fell into a dyke behind the sea bank or she had chosen to disappear. Despite a high profile search, include photographs being distributed across the region, no further evidence was ever found.

The Doe Network: Case File 2466DFUK

Missing people in and around Norwich

 

[Al Ka]

Dec 11, 2007

With people in Norfolk still reeling from the gruesome discovery of unidentified woman in Cockley Cley, a young woman disappeared from a campsite in Snettisham.
An articled clerk with Berkshire County Council, Pamela Exall was on a motorcycling holiday in Norfolk with her brother, Peter, and a friend. After enjoying a meal and a drink at Dinglea Campsite, at Snettisham, the leather-jacketed Pamela set out alone for a moonlit stroll along the beach. Extensive searches along the mudflats of the Wash and the lake at the Snettisham bird sanctuary, failed to find any trace of her.
===
November 2007

THE MYSTERIOUS disappearance of a law student from a Snettisham caravan site 33 years ago should be looked at again following police searches of convicted sex killer Peter Tobin's former home.
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Earlier this year, Tobin was jailed for the rape and murder of Polish student Angelika Kluk, whose body he hid in a Glasgow church, and now police forces nationally are investigating his movements over the past four decades.

Mr Jordan, from South Wootton, would like to see the case of missing Pamela Exall (21) reconsidered as part of the latest investigation because of her similar appearance to Dinah and to give closure to her family.

He was one of the first officers sent to Snettisham's Diglea campsite when Pamela disappeared on August 30, 1974, as a young constable based at Dersingham on motor patrol.

He said Pamela, her brother, Peter, and a friend, David, had stopped off at Snettisham for the bank holiday weekend towards the end of a touring and camping holiday.

"One of them made a phone call from a phonebox near the sailing club before the two boys returned to their tent.
---
Mr Jordan said: "No missing person case is ever closed until it comes to a satisfactory conclusion. I would like to see this case closed for the sake of the family, and particularly her brother who was there when she disappeared and greatly affected by it.

"Until the actual outcome is known it leaves it in limbo and that can cause greater distress than knowing what's happened.

"If she is dead, at least they will have some kind of finality rather than the uncertainty of not knowing."

He was part of the massive police search operation at the time and 20 years later, as an inspector, took part in London Weekend Television's Missing programme when it featured Pamela's disappearance to try to instigate new leads for investigation.

He was heard talking about the inquiry as her parents, Winifred and Len Exall, from Fleet in Hampshire, were shown walking along Snettisham beach.

The Exalls had approached the National Missing Persons Helpline after the body of a young woman fitting Pamela's description was found under builder Fred West's "House of Horrors" home in Gloucester. After discovering it was not their daughter, the couple were invited to do the programme.

Pamela, who had just graduated as a Bachelor of Arts from Kingston Polytechnic and was hoping to take up a job as a solicitor's articled clerk with Berkshire County Council, had phoned her mum on the Friday evening that the trio arrived at the Diglea site. She told her she had had a lovely holiday, and expected to arrive home at Fleet in Hampshire on the Sunday evening.

Pamela was last seen at 10.30pm that Friday. She was wearing blue jeans, a leather jacket and brown suede shoes. Her brother and friend, both 17-year-olds, discovered she was missing when they checked her tent the following morning. All her possessions were still in the tent.

Norfolk Police yesterday declined to say whether the Pamela Exall case would be referred as part of the latest investigation.

Her Porchlight profile - Exall, Pamela August 30, 1974

 

[Al Ka]

24 December 2009
Killer Peter Tobin 'not linked' to unsolved deaths

(click to enlarge)

(click to enlarge)

Six young women from Norfolk who have vanished or been found dead over the past 40 years were not victims of serial killer Peter Tobin, police said.

Norfolk police say there is no evidence linking him to the unsolved cases.
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Norfolk police said they had investigated the possibility of links between Tobin and a string of unsolved cases involving young women in the county.

The cases they looked into concerned Pamela Exall, who was 21 when she disappeared in 1974, Yvette Watson, 17, who vanished in 1979 and Natalie Pearman, 16, who was found dead at Ringland, near Norwich, in 1992.

Others include Johanna Young, 14, found in a pond on Boxing Day 1992, April Fabb, 13, who disappeared in 1969 and Susan Long, 18, found dead in 1969.

'No closure'

But officers said after a thorough investigation they had found no links.

BBC News - Killer Peter Tobin 'not linked' to unsolved deaths

 

[Al Ka]

August 2011
Cold case: Norfolk woman who simply disappeared

Pamela Exall disappeared on the evening of August 27, 1974 from Digleas Campsite, Snettisham. She was with her brother Peter and his friend.

A major search was undertaken of the area, which included search of underwater pits by police divers, dog handlers and the RAF helicopter, and comprehensive enquiries were conducted with all the surrounding campsites and houses.

Pamela’s disappearance was covered by both the national and local press. Pamela’s adoptive parents Winnie and Len Exall also made several television appeals. Despite all these efforts Pamela has not been seen or heard of since.

The senior investigating officer at the time considered several possibilities for her disappearance, including being a stranger to the area and becoming lost. She was five feet tall and of very slight build.

It is known that she went for a walk along the local beach at around 11pm that night and may have become cut off by the tide and drowned. She may even have decided to leave of her own volition, leaving no trace of her whereabouts.

Pamela’s case was reviewed by Norfolk Constabulary when Pamela’s family contacted the cold case team regarding the case of convicted murderer Peter Tobin.

Photographs of jewellery found in Tobin’s possession had been placed onto the Crimewatch website and these items looked familiar to the ones Pamela had on her when she disappeared.

The team in charge of the Tobin investigation also had DNA that had not been attributed to anyone, but Tony Deacon said they are not able to confirm or deny whether Tobin has had any involvement in her disappearance.

The DNA was compared to that of Pamela’s blood family members - she has siblings in Australia - and was not a match.

This DNA remains on the Missing Persons DNA Database for any future cross-referencing.

Pamela’s family have looked at the two pieces of jewellery which they recognised, but these were not identified as belonging to Pamela.

There have been appeals over the years but unfortunately, with the exception of the above, no further evidence has come to light.

Cold case: Norfolk woman who simply disappeared

 

[sportstergirl]

Could Pamela have been taken by a paedophile? She was very small & looked much younger.I remember reading of her disappearance at the time, it was the year I left school

 

[sportstergirl]

Have heard from a police officer who investigated her disappearance at the time Pamela is suspected to have been killed after a sex attack by a fisherman digging for bait.
She's buried in the mud under the tideline

 

[keeleymcneill]

Does anyone else think its possible the unidentified body case 06-023865 from Missing Persons Unit is possibly related to this case? Body was found 3 days before Pamela's disappearance. Both the Norfolk area, about 34 minutes from each area. The body was found in a nightdress suggesting the person had not long changed for night or was in bed and Pamela went missing from 22:30. Is it just coincidence or possibly the same murderer?

 

[sportstergirl]

The headless woman's body found in Cockley Cley is thought to be a victim of Peter Sutcliffe. Not generally believed to be related to Pamela's disappearance

 

[sportstergirl]

Bumping this case as it will soon be the 50th anniversary. No new leads far as I know. 2 Scottish women also vanished from East Anglia earlier in 1974 but not much information on them. Don't know if linked