Found Deceased UK - Sally Allan, 59, Ponteland, Northumberland, 26 December 2015

[Ad2817]

Hi all,
I am a newbie to WS but have browsed on here for years regarding cases in U.K. And around the world.
As I live in Newcastle and have good knowledge of the quayside I felt I had to contribute to this thread.
The last cctv of Sally was between the swing bridge and the guild hall, which means she walked past the swing bridge and then disappeared before the Tyne bridge. It has made me wonder whether she just calmly climbed the railings and swam in? If u jumped from railing height u wouldn't even be injured. Unless there is further cctv that the police aren't willing to share?
Again if she has entered the river this way I would wonder why she would walk to the quayside when she could have climbed the railings at an earlier time. This whole case has stumped me.
The only conclusion imo is that Sally wanted a perfect last day and did her favourite walk before calmly ending her life. This of course is all my opinion.

 

[Missoni]

Found some footage of the River Tyne bridges taken by a drone. Gives you a good idea of what it's like around that area. Just as the drone takes off you can see the river moving, which is fairly fast.

https://youtu.be/xXStYLOiYbo

 

[pappa rob]

Hi all,
I am a newbie to WS but have browsed on here for years regarding cases in U.K. And around the world.
As I live in Newcastle and have good knowledge of the quayside I felt I had to contribute to this thread.
The last cctv of Sally was between the swing bridge and the guild hall, which means she walked past the swing bridge and then disappeared before the Tyne bridge. It has made me wonder whether she just calmly climbed the railings and swam in? If u jumped from railing height u wouldn't even be injured. Unless there is further cctv that the police aren't willing to share?
Again if she has entered the river this way I would wonder why she would walk to the quayside when she could have climbed the railings at an earlier time. This whole case has stumped me.
The only conclusion imo is that Sally wanted a perfect last day and did her favourite walk before calmly ending her life. This of course is all my opinion.

Welcome to the group. It seems to me 26 meters is a pretty long drop, if she landed right she could of survived. If she landed wrong she'd be hurting..

 

[Ad2817]

I wasn't sure of the drop size. It looks like less. Still unsure as to why she would walk all that way to do that. I wonder if she has been notified of ill health or something? I know my friend was diagnosed with schizophrenia and threw himself in front of a HGV that same night. We all couldn't understand why until his dad told us the diagnosis he had been given that day. X

 

[Gem2626]

Hi all,
I am a newbie to WS but have browsed on here for years regarding cases in U.K. And around the world.
As I live in Newcastle and have good knowledge of the quayside I felt I had to contribute to this thread.
The last cctv of Sally was between the swing bridge and the guild hall, which means she walked past the swing bridge and then disappeared before the Tyne bridge. It has made me wonder whether she just calmly climbed the railings and swam in? If u jumped from railing height u wouldn't even be injured. Unless there is further cctv that the police aren't willing to share?
Again if she has entered the river this way I would wonder why she would walk to the quayside when she could have climbed the railings at an earlier time. This whole case has stumped me.
The only conclusion imo is that Sally wanted a perfect last day and did her favourite walk before calmly ending her life. This of course is all my opinion.

So does the CCTV show her going under the swing bridge tunnel and then continuing towards Guild hall rather than taking the stairs up to the swing bridge? That is the impression I am getting from posts I have seen elsewhere.

If she did go in over the railings i'm still thinking it's possible that the bridge was her original plan but she was worried about being spotted. Or she accidentally fell in but I don't see that easily happening.

 

[Elainera]

Welcome to the group. It seems to me 26 meters is a pretty long drop, if she landed right she could of survived. If she landed wrong she'd be hurting..

As I understood Ad2817 s/he meant that Sally did not jump from the bridge but from the riverside area between the two bridges, which wouldn't be a long drop.

Welcome Ad2817! Good to have you here and hear your insight!

 

[Elainera]

So does the CCTV show her going under the swing bridge tunnel and then continuing towards Guild hall rather than taking the stairs up to the swing bridge? That is the impression I am getting from posts I have seen elsewhere.

If she did go in over the railings i'm still thinking it's possible that the bridge was her original plan but she was worried about being spotted. Or she accidentally fell in but I don't see that easily happening.

bbm - just jumping off that sentence (no pun intended)

Actually - why not? She left home in her pj's, in the middle of the night, so presumably she was confused, or upset, or in some way not in her usual rational state of mind. Maybe she climbed on the railings to sit on them, or had other irrational ideas, like, a morning swim would be nice. All kinds of things could have gone on in her mind that had nothing to do with ending her life. We don't know. Maybe she never wanted to die.

 

[Gem2626]

bbm - just jumping off that sentence (no pun intended)

Actually - why not? She left home in her pj's, in the middle of the night, so presumably she was confused, or upset, or in some way not in her usual rational state of mind. Maybe she climbed on the railings to sit on them, or had other irrational ideas, like, a morning swim would be nice. All kinds of things could have gone on in her mind that had nothing to do with ending her life. We don't know. Maybe she never wanted to die.

Very true. I was thinking more from the point that she was totally fine in herself and just out for a stroll. I very much think that she either deliberately set out to kill herself or had some sort of breakdown. If the latter I could totally see how she could of fell in if acting irrationally.

As a side note someone said that at the beginning of her journey she would have been walking down country lanes that were pitch black. That sounds like someone who had lost all sense of fear.

 

[suzyjackson]

Very true. I was thinking more from the point that she was totally fine in herself and just out for a stroll. I very much think that she either deliberately set out to kill herself or had some sort of breakdown. If the latter I could totally see how she could of fell in if acting irrationally.

As a side note someone said that at the beginning of her journey she would have been walking down country lanes that were pitch black. That sounds like someone who had lost all sense of fear.

It wasn't me who said that but I did post a similar comment, there can't be many women who would walk around at that time of night for such a long distance. She would have had no idea who she might have bumped into or whether she would be able to see where she was going. To me that isn't the action of someone without some kind of concern - physical health, mental health, money worries, relationship problems whatever. It's almost like she'd decided what she was going to do and didn't care what might have happened to her on the way.

That said if she had already decided what to do I might have expected her to look more determined in the cctv footage (I know she did on the speeded up version but on the real time one she didn't seem to be walking with quite such purpose). At that point if she was doing something she'd planned she would have known her plan was about to happen imo she might have looked more purposeful.

 

[pappa rob]

I wasn't sure of the drop size. It looks like less. Still unsure as to why she would walk all that way to do that. I wonder if she has been notified of ill health or something? I know my friend was diagnosed with schizophrenia and threw himself in front of a HGV that same night. We all couldn't understand why until his dad told us the diagnosis he had been given that day. X

I'm sorry to hear of your friend, I know how rough that is. You don't want to get me started on the stuff I don't understand.. I wish I knew, maybe she was trying to calm down, talk herself out of it. It could be an accident, I've no idea, we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[Ad2817]

So does the CCTV show her going under the swing bridge tunnel and then continuing towards Guild hall rather than taking the stairs up to the swing bridge? That is the impression I am getting from posts I have seen elsewhere.

According to the police update yesterday posted on the Search4Sally FB group 'Footage shows Sally walking alongside the river Tyne underneath the swing bridge on quayside at around 6.15am boxing day. She was seen making her way along the riverside toward the rear of the guildhall. There is no CCTV of her leaving that area'.

So i took from this that she went into water near guild hall. I think if they knew she had climbed the swing bridge they would have stated that last footage was on the swing bridge. The police were also doing fingertip sweeps of the bridge and nothing has been reported to say there was evidence she was there.

The elapsed time between the Copthorne CCTV (which has been made public) and this CCTV is approx 17 mins. The walk from Copthorne to guildhall is only 5 mins max. I wonder if Sally stopped to contemplate things?

I know it was boxing day morning but I am still at a loss as to why not one person noticed someone in their PJ's around the river. I have been at quayside area early morning before and there is always a handful of people at least.

 

[alreetlike]

According to the police update yesterday posted on the Search4Sally FB group 'Footage shows Sally walking alongside the river Tyne underneath the swing bridge on quayside at around 6.15am boxing day. She was seen making her way along the riverside toward the rear of the guildhall. There is no CCTV of her leaving that area'.

So i took from this that she went into water near guild hall. I think if they knew she had climbed the swing bridge they would have stated that last footage was on the swing bridge. The police were also doing fingertip sweeps of the bridge and nothing has been reported to say there was evidence she was there.

The elapsed time between the Copthorne CCTV (which has been made public) and this CCTV is approx 17 mins. The walk from Copthorne to guildhall is only 5 mins max. I wonder if Sally stopped to contemplate things?

I know it was boxing day morning but I am still at a loss as to why not one person noticed someone in their PJ's around the river. I have been at quayside area early morning before and there is always a handful of people at least.

I agree with the bit I've bolded. The implication seems to be that she climbed or fell over the railings in this area. I think if she had climbed up to one of the bridges there would surely be further footage.

If you were attempting suicide, it doesn't seem like the most "certain" way to ensure a quick demise (in that you would be in the water for a bit first, rather than knocked out on impact), but attracts less attention. The water would be cold and hypothermia/exhaustion would set in fairly quickly but if you changed your mind and called for help, there wouldn't be anybody around to mount a rescue. Sounds horrible and lonely to me.

 

[alreetlike]

I've likened Sally to Jeffrey Boucher before, but I have a similar feelings in this case to my thoughts then: having dark thoughts and thinking a long run or walk will get your head right, only to eventually reach the point of thinking "no, I just can't do this anymore" and taking the first opportunity at that point to end it.

 

[ColourPurple]

As I've posted before I wondered if Sally had had some kind of episode similar to those that Alzheimer's/dementia sufferers can have. Found this interesting info:

Furthermore, the visual field (peripheral vision) is narrowed, creating “tunnel vision.” A reduction in peripheral vision results in poor navigators using only what they see in front of them versus excellent navigators who combine active scanning for landmarks they remember. This may account for dementia wanderers’ trademark behavior of essentially moving straight ahead: “They go until they get stuck.” Direction of travel predicts a dementia subject’s final location better than it does in most other subject categories.

Mild to moderate severity is associated with more goal-directed wandering. Initially, the subject does in fact have a destination in mind. Distances traveled may be greater

In a short conversation with the subject one may not detect anything unusual. Dementia subjects are usually recognized by the public due to inappropriate dress, unsafe or inappropriate behavior, asking for assistance, or an inappropriate response.

In an urban environment, the subject is typically found in structures or walking along roads. In both urban and wilderness environments, the subject is highly likely to cross or depart from a road (66%).If the subject leaves the road or travel feature, he does not travel far.

Subjects are also attracted to water features and will walk into water (perhaps without even realizing it is water)

Hallmark behaviors:
* They go until they get “stuck.”
* Appear to lack the ability to turn around and may ping-pong off some barriers.
* Direction of travel is a good predictor of where they are found.
* Oriented to the past. The more severe the dementia, the further in the past they exist. Figure out where in the past the subject is currently “living” in order to determine possible destinations (e.g., a former residence, a work place). Investigative questions assist to better understand the subject’s past (which, for them,
may be the present).May attempt to travel to former residence, favorite place or what appears to be former place, or workplace

https://www.dbs-sar.com/LPB/Dementia.pdf


My question is, if Sally was in the middle of some kind of similar episode... is there something at the point that Sally was last seen on CCTV that would have stopped her from carrying on straight ahead in the same direction she had been heading? Bollards? Something blocking the path? "No Entry" signs?

Of course it could just be that she stopped as she had reached her destination. Also is there easier access to the water at the point she was last seen, gaps in barriers etc? Or anywhere that could make it easier for her to have walked or fell into the water, or if she wasn't recognising it as water ... anywhere where the river looked more like an expanse of land that she could walk across?

 

[Cherwell]

As a side note someone said that at the beginning of her journey she would have been walking down country lanes that were pitch black. That sounds like someone who had lost all sense of fear.

No. There was a full moon over Christmas, so it would have been comparatively light.

 

[Bewick Lady]

Hi all,

Sorry for not posting over the last couple of days, I've not been to good.

I still have trouble understanding why at the Quayside Sally decided to end her life, if that is indeed what has happened. I still can't get my head around why walk so far when the rivers were so swollen.

I keep asking myself could it be that she took a different direction? As an avid walker and probably walked that route time and time again could she be aware of where CCTV cameras were located?

I have been out today for a drive around Newburn, Wylam and back home. I think until we know for sure I don't want to accept the obvious to so many.

There is many parts of the river path between Ovingham and Wylam that are awash with rubbish after the flooding and so much cream coloured rubble.

I still have the screen shots on my phone from one of the first posts on FB when sally went missing. From the lady who claims Sallys son claimed he was worried she was going to do something very sad.

There was another lady who went missing Boxing Day called Tracey Allan I believe. She has been found and is in hospital thankfully.

 

[Ad2817]

Hi all,


I still have the screen shots on my phone from one of the first posts on FB when sally went missing. From the lady who claims Sallys son claimed he was worried she was going to do something very sad.

If that is the case maybe the family were aware she was depressed? Or maybe she had attempted something like this before?

 

[Cherwell]

I still have trouble understanding why at the Quayside Sally decided to end her life, if that is indeed what has happened. I still can't get my head around why walk so far when the rivers were so swollen.

As a general comment: I don't think one should expect to be able to get inside the head of someone who commits suicide. A person might set out with no firm decisions made. Perhaps they need to take time to think things over, or to remember things. Suicide may be planned, or it may be impulsive. We can't know.

 

[Missoni]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...begins-River-Tyne-police-divers-look-her.html

Updated article by Daily Mail 10 mins ago. Shows pictures of divers readying themselves and in the water. Water looks pretty turbulent.

 

[dotr]

This case reminds me of Yulia Solodyankina, the lovely young Russian woman who was at university in Scotland in 2013.
She walked out one day, was spotted on cctv and ultimately, sadly, she was found deceased apparently by her own hand, far away from where her journey started.

http://www.websleuths.com/forums/sh...-Solodyankina-22-Glasgow-Scotland-7-June-2013
Yulia Solodyankina, 22, Glasgow, Scotland, 7 June 2013