Found Deceased UK - Thomas Jones, 18, Worcester, 19 Sep 2018

[sundaaaay]

I want to share something I found.

What we know is that Tom was seen on CCTV at the Hive library, near the River Severn. He is then thought to have crossed the Sabrina footbridge, and then believed to have walked on to the footpath along the top of the flood defences on Hylton Road towards Hallow just before 3.50am - So the last thing we can confirm is that he was near the footbridge.

A few years ago a friend of mine showed me a gay hookup website where you can search for cruising spots. I just made a profile and did a search of the area. There is a spot which seems fairly popular around the toilets (52°11'35.2"N 2°13'42.9"W) just before the Sabrina footbridge, in the description it states...

"Going away from town, turn right before you cross the bridge over the river and walk, it's about 200 yards on your left opposite a truckers car park. Toilets with a good glory hole...Also at night there are lads wanking on benches between cafe and footbridge"

I don't want to steer the case in a sinister direction, but he's been missing for one week, vanished without a trace, without any evidence or CCTV footage showing his further moves.

But this shows that the exact area where he went missing perhaps had a lot more activity than I originally thought.

 

[tree1]

This is confusing.

Man arrested over disappearance of student, 18, who went missing after a fresher's night out at university



Would you really phone your mum at 3am to say you got home safely? Was she sitting up at that time waiting for a phone call (if so, how bizarre) or was she in bed asleep and did he wake her up?

Also that seems to indicate he was not living at the family home in Bromsgrove but was presumably forking out rent to live barely 10 miles away. Given the cost of tuition fees these days many students choose to attend a local university in order to live at home and save money. Those who really want the whole going away from home experience tend to choose a more distant university to attend for the added independence.

There's so much that's not being reported.

Where was Tom actually living?
Why would he be heading towards Hallow?
Who is the man who's been arrested? Is he connected with Tom in any way or a complete stranger?

Indeed,. Agree . He had apparently been watching football with his Dad earlier that evening, went home at 23.45 back to halls then went out to the night club

 

[CoverMeCagney]

I've had a look on google earth and I think it must be the area under the railway bridge known as "the beach". Good spot and welcome, Sundaaaay.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

Indeed,. Agree . He had apparently been watching football with his Dad earlier that evening, went home at 23.45 back to halls then went out to the night club

Huh? I'm sure even at 18 (and I was a proper little raver at that age) I wouldn't have been arsed going out at midnight. Still finding all the communication from/with mum and dad a little hinky. as our friends across the pond would say. All a bit weird.

 

[Ironside]

I think communication with parent and teenagers these days is different what with mobiles. My niece constantly facetimes her mum from uni. I wouldn't be surprised at all if she rang her ma on the way home at 3am.

I've always been in the one phone call a week situation and that's more than enough for me but other people can be very pally and close with their parents.

 

[sundaaaay]

Personally I wouldn't phone my parents at 3am, but maybe his mum insisted on him calling her when home or his parents were up late watching a film or something. I find it weirder that according to the reports he told her he was home but he wasn't. Why lie?

3.15am - Spoke to his mother on the phone, said he was home, was actually still on the way.

Disappearance of Thomas Jones: What we know so far in the investigation | Worcester News

 

[Ironside]

Well I've told my parents all sorts of lies just to shut them up nagging and I'm double his age.

Maybe his mum was on night shifts so was up anyway, we don't know.

His parents clearly love him to bits and my heart breaks for them right now.

 

[CoverMeCagney]

You're right, it's very different now; I'd have had to queue up for the payphone with my phone card! Pagers were getting trendy then, but I never had one. Got my first mobile phone (free with student Barclaycard - still got it, it's hilariously huge!) a couple of years later in 1994. But like you, Ironside, I'm a "call once a week plus maybe the odd text/whatsapp" kinda gal. Ironically my 70 year old mum is way more tech savvy than I am and she just can't understand why I'm not permanently glued to my phone. I only ever take it off silent if I'm actually expecting a call!!

 

[MelmothTheLost]

A few years ago a friend of mine showed me a gay hookup website where you can search for cruising spots. I just made a profile and did a search of the area. There is a spot which seems fairly popular around the toilets (52°11'35.2"N 2°13'42.9"W) just before the Sabrina footbridge, in the description it states...

"Going away from town, turn right before you cross the bridge over the river and walk, it's about 200 yards on your left opposite a truckers car park. Toilets with a good glory hole...Also at night there are lads wanking on benches between cafe and footbridge"

Interesting suggestion.

Looking at the satellite view, it seems likely that Tom would have walked along the footpath which curved round the end of the racecourse before joining Grandstand Road. If the cruising area was only around the public loos then he would have been a good 100 yards away from any activity, but if it stretched along the riverfront towards the footbridge then he could have come much closer to it, maybe even skirted it.

One thing I noticed which hasn't been mentioned so far is that Tom was quite short for a man at 5' 5". Is it possible that given his height he could have been mistaken for someone much younger than he was.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

I think communication with parent and teenagers these days is different what with mobiles. My niece constantly facetimes her mum from uni.

I find this generation of young people on the whole to be much more worldly, even more sophisticated in a superficial way, than we were but also much more immature. I wonder if this immaturity and constant contact with parents leading to greater homesickness is one of the factors behind the high drop out rate we see at many universities.

Not sure I expressed that quite as I wanted to.

 

[Smiths_Fan]

I live in Worcester and know the area pretty well, so naturally have been invested in the case.

One thing that really stands out for me is how long it took Tom to walk from McDonald's to The Sabrina Bridge. If the timeline is accurate, he left McDonald's just after 3am and it is roughly a 10 minute (15 if you are a slow walker, max!) walk to Pitchcroft, which is where he sent a Snapchat at 3:30am. It's not even a 5 minute walk to the Sabrina Bridge from where he took the Snapchat, so how come it took him 20 minutes? Why inform your flatmates you will only be 2 minutes if you're taking a leisurely stroll home? Was he brooding over an altercation earlier in the night with the 2 lads that were arrested? Was this, combined with starting Uni enough to tip him over the edge, if he was feeling depressed anyway?
And why not just wait until he got back to the halls before he phoned his mum to let her know he was safe? - this isn't just a case of not wanting her to worry, because he was on his way home and it wouldn't have taken long for him to get there.

I haven't seen it but CCTV footage believed to be him crossing the Sabrina bridge to Hylton Road was shown on the news and they believe he continued walked up the path that runs along the flood defences, so we know he got across. That was at 3:50am, so near enough 45-50 minutes to get to that point. Seems a long time to me.

Because of this, I can't help but think he was contemplating jumping in and that would explain the slow pace. Last phone ping was at 3:51am (unless I'm mistaken) The most likely explanation is he's jumped. I think if he had slipped whilst having a wee etc the police would have by now found evidence of a scuffle by now - and he wasn't that far from halls. And I can't picture anyone dropping their phone to such an extent from the path.

 

[sundaaaay]

Another thing they need to rule out is whether drugs were involved. Freshers at some Uni's in the UK are really into drugs, and coming up on mdma or pills for the first time can be really crazy. And if you take it too late and come up on the way home you could easily do something stupid. I've been there myself once

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Last image of Freshers student, 18, who vanished after party shows him 'two minutes from home' - as family say video of his last steps is lost due to council CCTV cameras being off

His [Tom's] family have said the council CCTV cameras aimed at the bridge close to where he was last seen were turned off, wasting valuable search time.

Much of the search has been centred on the River Severn, which runs under the footbridge, but it was later revealed he had managed to cross safely and had not fallen in.

Thomas’ cousin Louise Heffernan, 24, said: 'What was the most maddening thing for so many days last week was that the council CCTV on the bridge, which looks over the whole of the bridge and the pathways around it, wasn’t on.

'We’re assuming it’s because they haven’t paid for the upkeep but I can’t see any other reason why it would be off.'

Footage from other distant cameras handed to police days after his disapperance show Thomas safely on the other side of the bridge.

Parents of missing Worcester university fresher cling to hope | Daily Mail Online

Some new information here.

1. There should have been CCTV footage of the bridge but there wasn't as the cameras covering the bridge were switched off.

2. Footage from other more distant cameras shows that Tom did cross the Sabrina Bridge safely.

3. Therefore we know he successfully passed any gay hookup activity around the public loos and the Beach area.

This means whatever happened to him seems to have done so somewhere along Hylton Road but doesn't explain why his phone apparently went dead at this time.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Just thinking about something else in the Mail article, though it's not new:

'Tom had phoned his mum and then his new flatmate to tell him he was two minutes away' from home before he disappeared.

What if Tom really was only 2 minutes from home? That would put him on or very near the campus, so could something have happened to him on campus involving one or more other students?

 

[RosalindaA]

Unfortunately I haven't really followed Tom's case in detail but happened to see LordanArts' Searchlight for Tom yesterday

so just posting in case it is helpful. John's programme has quite a few UK viewers so at least it is getting more exposure for his disappearance. Hoping he defies the statistics and is not in the water.

 

[JosieJo]

Just thinking about something else in the Mail article, though it's not new:



What if Tom really was only 2 minutes from home? That would put him on or very near the campus, so could something have happened to him on campus involving one or more other students?

This has been on my mind also

 

[sundaaaay]

Up to date timeline (Given by a friend on the official facebook page)

03:00 Tom leaves Velvet nightclub

Just after 3am Tom leaves McDonald's opposite Foregate Street Station alone

Between 3am and 3:40 Tom calls his Mum to say he is back at the flat, he was not

03:30 Tom calls his flatmates to say he is 'only 2 minutes away'

03:40 Tom sends a snapchat photo of himself outside the Worcester racecourse

03:44 Tom calls flatmates

03:46 Tom messages one of his flatmates

03:48 Flatmate tries to call Tom but phone does not ring

 

[MelmothTheLost]

03:30 Tom calls his flatmates to say he is 'only 2 minutes away'

03:40 Tom sends a snapchat photo of himself outside the Worcester racecourse

Does not compute. Depending on exactly where outside the racecourse he sent the snapchat photo, he was possibly a little under half way home, which I put at 10 to 15 minutes walk.

Unless for some reason he originally got nearer his flat but then doubled back towards town, but if that had happened they would have had multiple sightings of him going backwards and forwards on the long distance CCTV images they have.

However we come back once again to the fact that on the information we have Tom was making remarkably slow progress homewards. Why?

 

[CoverMeCagney]

3:44 Tom phones flatmate
3:46 Tom messages flatmate
3:48 Flatmate tries to phone Tom

Why so much activity? What was the content of the messages? Were the flatmates concerned about something?

 

[sundaaaay]

On Google maps it shows that from McDonalds to the Uni is only a 26 minute walk.

If he left McDonalds at 3.15, a 26 minute walk would mean he would be at Uni at 3.41, so if he was intending on going straight home, whatever happened could have been very close to the University