jonmarbles
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heres the facebook group.Vanished: The Surrey Schoolgirl
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Can you cite you source, please?The content of the notes is described by the police as ambiguous. i.e. not specifically suicide notes.
id like to where this man was at the time. Gravedigger William Lambert 'raped schoolgirls in Surrey church yard' | Daily Mail Online
Excellent post and very well written. Thankyou for giving such a great description of the layout of the land.I seem to have sparked a bit of debate on one or two issues so thought it may help to clarify my comments.
I know Box Hill very well. I live in Guildford, which is 10 miles from Box Hill and still visit that area (the NT property and Dorking) several times a year. In the past when I had retrievers and a springer we would walk them on Box Hill as a change from time to time. So my comments about the numbers of people in the area are based on my observations from walking there (you can hardly move some weekends for cyclists). The whole area is also riddled with public rights of way (footpaths, bridleways) used by walkers and dog walkers. I know from my dogs that they would head into the undergrowth and trees and would alert (or more likely be stubborn and refuse to move) if they found something of interest. With hundreds of dogs each day (and more at weekends) doing that I cannot believe a body would remain unfound unless in a wholly inaccessible place. And the only such place I can think of would be the slopes of the unused quarry - which I assume were checked. The area where Ruth was dropped is at the back of Box Hill, so is one of the less frequented areas and would be used more by locals than visitors - but there are still plenty of those.
Over the several decades I have lived in Surrey I have seen enough reports of the failings of Surrey Police to be wary of assuming that they will have done a good job. There have been multiple scandals about the personal behaviour of their senior command, but these have rarely been in connection with police business (they have a nasty habit of selecting senior officers who behave oddly). But whatever the personal failings of their senior officers, Surrey Police is a large, well resourced organisation with 2000 officers and specialists in most areas of policing. They also have very close working relationships with the Met Police (due to proximity) enabling them better access to other specialists and facilities than many forces. For all these reasons I find it hard to think they would fail to conduct basic policing not only in the initial enquiry but also in subsequent reviews. I do find their behaviour when interviewing Ruth's friend in Sheffield interesting. That definitely seems to suggest they believed she was still alive. Whether that was a default assumption or had some basis I do not know.
One of the primary sources of assuming failures on the part of Surrey Police is Mark Williams-Thomas. He is a former Surrey police officer and now a journalist, who acted as police liaison officer with the Wilsons. I would be careful in placing reliance on him as a source. He left Surrey Police in unclear circumstances and was charged (and cleared) of blackmail 2 years after leaving the police. I also note that he has commented on the possibility of Ruth still being on Box Hill. He must know the area and its heavy usage and, for me, this statement damages his credibility. He may be quite accurate in his view of the initial investigation, but he may also have an agenda.
In regards to the conditions when the taxi driver dropped Ruth. In November at 4.30 it would have been dark but not yet pitch black. I would have assumed the taxi driver was expecting Ruth to either be going to the pub or to one of the nearby houses. I have driven that road a few times over the years and there are quite a number of houses nearby. So the comment about thinking it was strange is most likely a retrospective view based on what subsequently emerged and his view in the mirror as he drove off. The area is rural (by Surrey standards), but I could take people to 100 more remote spots in Surrey (and there is nowhere which would classify as remote compared with US definitions of remote).
Finally, coming back to the taxi driver. It is because it is such basic policing that I make the default assumption that his story is to be believed. I would also expect that their would be CCTV to confirm his pick up of Ruth (since it was at Dorking station, which would have had coverage even at that time - always assuming it was the main station). If she ordered the taxi by phone there may also be a despatcher record). In all probability the taxi driver would also have gone onto another recorded job, providing a limit to his time window with Ruth. I am not saying it is impossible that he is involved; just that it seems highly improbable given what we know, and that we should be careful about thinking otherwise in these circumstances.
So, in conclusion, I do not know what has happened. I favour the planned disappearance as I see no convincing evidence of suicide, and the coincidence of personal circumstances intersecting with a predator seems unlikely. But all are possible and it is just a matter of opinion which seems most probable.
In the WS thread about missing teen Andrew Gosden, someone shared this fascinating article about an American runaway named Crystal Haag.
Basically at age 14, Crystal made a split-second decision to board a bus from Baltimore to New York City and never come back. Enduring five years of sexual abuse, which her mother claims not to have been aware of, Crystal took nothing with her, and yet she created a new identity, got a job, new support system, even a family. Just like that. And she has lived here for more than 21 years at this point.
If Crystal could do all that without any planning ahead, then surely Ruth could've too, since Ruth did plan some things ahead, like skipping school, hailing cabs, and sending flowers.
Crystal got a fake ID in New York, but getting pregnant made it easier for her to obtain official government documentation under her assumed new identity. Is it similar in the UK? I know someone mentioned that at 16, UK citizens receive their National Insurance Number, and that you could simply say you never received it and have it mailed elsewhere. But could you change the name on it? Can the government track usage of a NINO?
I just feel that if Crystal could do it with less, then Ruth was definitely in a better position to do it as well. Learning about her mother's suicide could've made her feel like her whole life was a lie, betrayed by the remaining parent she had trusted. In her mind, what did she have left? Why should she stay?
And just like Crystal's mom says she wasn't aware of her daughter's sexual abuse, maybe Ruth's father simply didn't perceive his daughter's change in mood.
I do believe whatever caused her mum’s suicide also impacted on Ruth. I believe she wanted to escape to a new life. I’m not sure how the system works in uk with a new identity, but someone did say she may have moved on to Canada. And I bet she sends messages to friends who helped her, even once a year.