UK UK - Sarah Everard, 33, London - Clapham Common area, 3 March 2021 #2

[SouthLondon85]

The helicopter was hovering at 2am over a specific place for about 20mins above Streatham. A little further south than the focussed search area, so I’m not sure it’s related.

Thank you, this is really useful - explains what I heard!

 

[Lod76]

I don't want to derail the thread, I just think we just need to be careful of ongoing speculation that the reason why the police are saying 'the case is complex' is because of anything to do with Sarah as a person.

If anything, aspects like 'mental health' or personal troubles would make the police look at this case as less complex, as it would offer them a simpler explanation as to why someone has gone missing.

In missing persons cases mental health is often involved. People often have personal trouble, or financial trouble. In this case, we are being told Sarah was happy and healthy and about to start a new job. I'm going to accept that because I can't think of a reason why either family or police would lie about it. And I don't believe they would be investigating on this scale if they had any reason to suspect otherwise.

Signs indicate that Sarah has been a victim, and has not gone missing voluntarily. Her mental health - good or bad - is therefore, in my opinion, completely irrelevant.

Rant over. Not going to continue to bang this drum. Sorry.

I agree and wouldn't read anything into an offhand comment, all seemed well in her life. Just my opinion of course but I feel the police are at the stage where they are desperate for a break of some kind. If I were them I'd be knocking every door in the area and trying to gain access to every property, people don't just vanish. The searches of parkland areas seem to have yielded nothing and given she was some distance away from the common when last seen that is hardly surprising.

 

[Normal Norm]

I live on Leathwaite, very near to where SE started her journey from and one thing that has always struck me from the beginning was, why she left the friends house by the rear gate? The garden she’d have to walk through would be dark, and you come out onto a small piece of scrub land (completely unkempt and overgrown), before you get to the South Circular Road to follow around to Clapham Common.

Snipped by me for focus.

I was wondering the same thing this morning. I suspect that they were actually in the garden for some time before Sarah left, perhaps even for the whole period (more Covid-responsible, someone may have been smoking etc.). Virtually all rear gardens have a light in them nowadays, and the scrub land is only about 15 feet wide until you are on a footpath on a well-lit thoroughfare in the direction Sarah needed to be. Her friend probably waited at the back gate until Sarah was on the path. I don't think Sarah's safety has been compromised in leaving by the back gate.

It had occurred to me that Sarah had arranged to leave this way because she felt she had been followed to the front of the house at the start of the evening. It's a bit of a long shot, which I have pretty much, but not completely, ruled out. I don't think Sarah would have walked home if she felt she'd been followed earlier, and the friend wouldn't have allowed her too, either. Even if she'd said nothing to her friend, surely her suspicions would have been raised by a request to leave by the back gate.

 

[azzie2323]

Morning all - question for fellow locals, did anyone else hear what seened to be a lot of helicopter activity around 2am? I had a lot of trouble sleeping and could have sworn that was what I heard, for about an hour.

I was fast asleep and did not hear anything but have heard helicopters hovering over the Brixton Hill area multiple times in the past days!

 

[Spyder84]

I have been looking at some CCTV from the links provided and the only thing I have found that looks anything like her is below. Looks like a light coloured hat and potentially a light coloured jacket being removed. Trainers seem a bit too light and trousers too dark however. Probably nothing.

https://archive.tfljamcams.net/archive/Brixton_Hill__Lambert_Rd/2021-03-04/2021-03-04@02_36GMT.jpg

She was wearing running shoes right? They probably have reflective material so would look lighter in colour at night in natural street lighting conditions, that is an interesting CCTV still though.

 

[Kira_86]

Another newbie, here, I’m afraid, so apologies for any mistakes...

I live on Leathwaite, very near to where SE started her journey from and one thing that has always struck me from the beginning was, why she left the friends house by the rear gate? The garden she’d have to walk through would be dark, and you come out onto a small piece of scrub land (completely unkempt and overgrown), before you get to the South Circular Road to follow around to Clapham Common. It would add no time at all to leave the friend’s house by the front door and follow the well lit road around. I know SE was seen well after this point of her trip, but maybe it just shows that she wasn’t adverse to a little detour, even across an unlit, uneven area?

The other thing is her phone being turned off. I know someone previously asked if turning her phone onto “flight mode” stops all ping activity (I definitely do that myself, if my battery is dying, and especially if I wait to listen to music). I have to admit another bad habit I have, especially after a cheeky vino or two, is if I have an argument on my phone, I’ll hang up and turn my phone off, so they can’t call me back.

Very good point. I am also interested in the habit of people going out from friends house by the back door. Was she realised that she was followed since she starting the journey to her friend house? So, instead of exit from the main door, she would sneak via the backyard door. Maybe she realised that the prep followed and waiting around her friend house? Might be someone she knew in the past or her ex?

Or the other point was she and her friend are very close and routine visit her friend for dinner so it would be some habit for SE to exit via the backyard door.

I am newbie in the Websleuths and this case is very intense to me. I am used to living in NW postcode which I never encountered dodgy people along the street. Just someone offer me grass and some drunk people.

 

[sundaythrower]

I would have said that about my friend who disappeared. He had what I thought was a really contented happy and simple life. Knew him all my life and one day he just disappeared when he was supposed to be going on holiday. He reappeared about ten years later having started a new life in London. He was a quiet country boy in the south west previously. I doubt you would have found a single family member or friend who would have said anything other than he was living a happy and healthy life at the time. Nobody knew any different. We humans are strange people and you can never tell.

I’m not disputing that you wouldn’t say that about someone close to you, what I’m saying is that if, as someone earlier suggested, the police stated it was “complex” because they knew about something with her mental health/otherwise, there wouldn’t be statements made claiming she was happy and healthy as that would be contradictory to their line of investigation - does that make sense? I don’t think that the “complex situation” they are on about is anything to do with her health mental or otherwise IMO. Can’t tell if I’m just waffling now

 

[daisychain01]

Let’s all pray that there is some hopeful news today

 

[sundaythrower]

I don't want to derail the thread, I just think we just need to be careful of ongoing speculation that the reason why the police are saying 'the case is complex' is because of anything to do with Sarah as a person.

If anything, aspects like 'mental health' or personal troubles would make the police look at this case as less complex, as it would offer them a simpler explanation as to why someone has gone missing.

In missing persons cases mental health is often involved. People often have personal trouble, or financial trouble. In this case, we are being told Sarah was happy and healthy and about to start a new job. I'm going to accept that because I can't think of a reason why either family or police would lie about it. And I don't believe they would be investigating on this scale if they had any reason to suspect otherwise.

Signs indicate that Sarah has been a victim, and has not gone missing voluntarily. Her mental health - good or bad - is therefore, in my opinion, completely irrelevant.

Rant over. Not going to continue to bang this drum. Sorry.

I agree

 

[prebelfan]

https://archive.tfljamcams.net/archive/Brixton_Hill__Lambert_Rd/2021-03-04/2021-03-04@02_36GMT.jpg

It is interesting spot, good work, because the road on the right of the image is Brixton Water Lane, the last road highlighted by police that they want CCTV for.
I agree it doesn’t quite match up with SE clothing. But being on that side of the road does, if she’d walked up Brixton Hill to then turn into Brixton Water Ln

 

[monkey115]

I don't want to derail the thread, I just think we just need to be careful of ongoing speculation that the reason why the police are saying 'the case is complex' is because of anything to do with Sarah as a person.

If anything, aspects like 'mental health' or personal troubles would make the police look at this case as less complex, as it would offer them a simpler explanation as to why someone has gone missing.

In missing persons cases mental health is often involved. People often have personal trouble, or financial trouble. In this case, we are being told Sarah was happy and healthy and about to start a new job. I'm going to accept that because I can't think of a reason why either family or police would lie about it. And I don't believe they would be investigating on this scale if they had any reason to suspect otherwise.

Signs indicate that Sarah has been a victim, and has not gone missing voluntarily. Her mental health - good or bad - is therefore, in my opinion, completely irrelevant.

Rant over. Not going to continue to bang this drum. Sorry.

I dont understand why the word complex suggest mental health issues.

 

[Jimmy Pats]

As to whether Sarah's phone battery may have gone flat I'm in two minds about that. In practical terms yes quite possibly. I'm a bugger for forgetting to charge my phone and often it's gone flat before I realise.

However Sarah made a call just before the phone went silent. Don't think I've ever made a call when the battery was low without knowing it. Also almost the first thing I would say to whoever I was speaking to would be something along the lines of "I'll have to be quick the battery is running out". I think if Sarah's battery was low that she would almost have certainly mentioned it to her boyfriend. As far as I know the police or anyone else have not made any comments to that effect. I do feel doubtful this was the case here.

I also agree with other posters that the police using the term "complex nature" raises many questions. I'd expect that sort of language to be used where there were many different strands such as say the Claudia Lawrence case where you have all sorts of things going on. This case doesn't seem complex from what's been released so far. So I tend to think there's other information they're working on. I also wonder if that's why they used the term "concerns over her welfare" rather than safety? Welfare is a word I'd use more in the context of someone not taking care of themselves properly or not bring looked after rather than a word I'd use if I was suggesting third party involvement.

Sarah’s aunt described her as being very organised and together. JMO but doesn’t seem the type to be running out of battery life on a long night time walk or to be unaware that the battery was about to expire.

 

[Normal Norm]

Oh absolutely. I just think using the word complex is going to cause speculation. Baffling, mystery, difficult might be better. Complex has connotations.

Snipped by me for focus.

I agree. I think a better word would have been *unusual". As far as we know, and at the risk of sounding judgemental, Sarah does not appear to have any of the signs that characterise so many disappearances (a history of having done it before, mental health problems, a chaotic lifestyle etc.). This is what troubles me deeply about Sarah's case.

The complexity is probably more to do with the sheer volume of potential evidence in the form of CCTV footage.

 

[Spyder84]

Very good point. I am also interested in the habit of people going out from friends house by the back door. Was she realised that she was followed since she starting the journey to her friend house? So, instead of exit from the main door, she would sneak via the backyard door. Maybe she realised that the prep followed and waiting around her friend house? Might be someone she knew in the past or her ex?

It would be quicker to leave via the back then the front, we use to have a back lane that I could access via the side of our house and always took that route no matter what time it was, sadly the lane has been closed off permanently now & we're forced to go the long way round, so IMO I think leaving leathwaite via the back would have been logical and second nature to SE

 

[Baruti]

I dont understand why the word complex suggest mental health issues.

It doesn't really to me, 'vulnerable' suggests MH issues. 'Complex' suggests something quite different, IMO.

 

[prebelfan]

She was wearing running shoes right? They probably have reflective material so would look lighter in colour at night in natural street lighting conditions, that is an interesting CCTV still though.

Just to add to G1712’s find, my eyes were finding it hard to see what the light coloured item was on the right leg of the person in CCTV. It’s actually just a road sign on the lamppost. Circled in red here.

 

[Vera_dci]

Just thought I'd add my experience with I phones. I had an IPhone x that I had a lot of battery issues with. It would show battery level of 60% then suddenly drop to 10% it would also turn off when I was on calls and would take forever to charge up. Not sure if it was a common fault. Whilst I was waiting for my contract to finish my partner borrowed me his iPhone 10 and I had the same issue with battery level suddenly dropping. This could have been the case with Sarah's phone.

 

[mrazda71]

Sorry, I don't know what RSBM means.



Regarding violence, the global security situation has undergone seismic shifts post-cold war and violence has increased substantially in most parts of the world which has filtered into city life in many instances. I'm not sure what aspect of this one would link, but potentially there would be thousands of examples as it's such as vast and pressing topic that has produced enormous bodies of literature - as is well known of course.

I'm not sure the relevance of elaborating on all this as far as SE is concerned - I was simply making the point that London (as well as many other places) can be and often is a dangerous place, and people of SE's generation, respecfully, perhaps for whatever reason think they are safer than their parents generation when they really are not.

London itself is currently undergoing a stabbing epidemic, for example, which it has been for a few years now. ETA: I don't think I need a reference for this as it's a given as far as anyone familiar with London or the news is concerned.

What is your point of reference in saying violent crime has declined?

I think it's a tad dramatic to say 'stabbing epidemic' IMO - is not usually random people being stabbed either - they're almost always either gang related or domestic violence.

The biggest threat to any woman, London or literally anywhere in the world is an estranged partner, a current partner or sexually motivated crime by stranger or acquaintance.

 

[Joolz1975]

I really think they have someone in mind for this already. Reminds me of the early days of Libby's case when there was just little snippets of information coming through from the police because they already had their suspicions of who was involved. IMO.

 

[Lyanna]

Hi, have read through the full thread and am caught up, its moved fast!

Hoping beyond hope that Sarah is found soon, this must be awful for her loved ones and friends.

This morning is the first time I've seen Sarah mentioned on the news where I live, although am in UK am not in England so maybe thats why.
I've pondered whether Sarah may have had a stalker? At the very least, it appears to me that she may have been followed that night, purely because of the 2 minutes between her phone call ending and the phone being cut off? Makes me think someone could have been following her and listening in?
jmo