UK UK - Charlene Downes, 14, Blackpool England, Nov 2003

[Earth]

i wish they’d stop with the kebab thing.

Even if she wasn't cut up in kebabs (one of the reasons that I never eat kebabs is when I was young and read about the rumour that another Blackpool girl was turned into kebabs) this doesn't necessarily rule out those men that she knew. Blackpool is by the sea; she could have been thrown in.

 

[StillDiggin]

Our daughter was 'turned into kebab meat' - people think WE did it

EXCLUSIVE: Charlene Downes vanished just hours after happily telling her mum she would not be late home as she headed to meet two pals.

www.dailymail.co.uk

https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/people/charlene-downes-mothers-desperate-plea-for-missing-blackpool-teenager-to-end-terrible-nightmare-after-20-years-4231944

 

[RichardKimble]

Even if she wasn't cut up in kebabs (one of the reasons that I never eat kebabs is when I was young and read about the rumour that another Blackpool girl was turned into kebabs) this doesn't necessarily rule out those men that she knew. Blackpool is by the sea; she could have been thrown in.

Or ended up in the waste recycling if she was minced, what a terrible thought to have as a parent to know this (kebab) is one scenario.

 

[mrC]

if she had o put in the kebabs the dna would of been all over the kebab shop the police would of found it the fact they dident shows she ouldent of been

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The parents of Charlene Downes, a missing schoolgirl who is feared to have been murdered and mutilated, have revealed they are being taunted by locals nearly 20 years after their daughter’s disappearance. The 14-year-old schoolgirl vanished without trace near Blackpool in 2003 and police believe she was murdered by men who’d been sexually abusing her.

Prosecutors claimed her body was cut up and minced into kebabs and her bones crushed into tile grouting with a local takeaway owner standing trial in 2007. Jurors were played taped conversations in which it was alleged the owner joked he killed the girl, that she was ‘chopped up’ and her body had ‘gone into the kebabs’.

But charges were dropped when a jury was unable to reach a verdict and a retrial was dropped after the police probe was judged to have been ‘handled unprofessionally’. Almost 20 years on from her disappearance, her parents Bob and Karen Downes say they have been mercilessly trolled and face daily abuse in the Lancashire resort.

“Charlene was failed by everyone that should have kept her safe. The police, social services, they all let her down. We’re trying to build a legacy and fight for real justice for her, so she can be remembered for something positive.”

https://www.nationalworld.com/news/crime/charlene-downes-parents-taunted-by-locals-4256671

 

[mrC]

are these the parents that had convicted sex offenders loddging with them and yes i can back that up its in the ch5 documentry

 

[Bluebear15]

Her parents should acknowledge that they too failed her massively. No decent parent would knowingly allow paedophiles to be around their kids imo, jmo

 

[Bluebear15]

Her mother doesn't seem to understand that if she accepts anything from the BNP then people WILL call her a racist, because they are a racist organisation. Fly with the crows and all that...jmo, moo

 

[mrC]

did anybody notice in the documentry charlenes mum and sister look at each other rather than at the camera maybe im reading to much into it but i found it a bit odd

 

[RobinCAL]

https://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/news/people/new-charlene-downes-true-crime-documentary-will-premiere-on-shots-tv-freeview-channel-4389048

 

[Batearedfreak]

14-year-old Charlene Downes is believed by Blackpool police to have been turned into kebabs and tile grout after her disappearance in November 2003. Two Muslim men - one a former social worker - have been charged with her murder or with assisting in the disposal of her body.

The combination of murder, the appalling likelihood that scores of unwitting customers actually ate Charlene, and the unasked question as to whether this was another case involving the grooming for sex and drugs of a young white girl by a Muslim sex predator gang should have made this killing national front page news.

But, with the sole exception of the Metro (Manchester version) Friday 10th March 2006 (report reproduced here) not one significant newspaper has even mentioned Charlene and her terrible fate.

Perhaps this will change when her alleged killer and his accomplice come to full trial. But the media bias is already all too clear. Cases such as the murder of Anthony Walker became national news within hours of their murder, running with ever-increasing media frenzy until - and beyond - the actual trial of his moronic drug-using killers.

No one in the UK (i.e. the police and press), gives two sh#ts about working class kids. That's why predators predate on them. Easy targets that no one except their often chaotic and broken parents (who attract similar levels of contempt from the authorities) may or may not miss. So sad.

 

[Earth]

No one in the UK (i.e. the police and press), gives two sh#ts about working class kids. That's why predators predate on them. Easy targets that no one except their often chaotic and broken parents (who attract similar levels of contempt from the authorities) may or may not miss. So sad.

It's true. Aside from James Bulger, I can't think of a single working-class child, of any skin colour or gender, who made the front page when they disappeared.

 

[StillDiggin]

Charlene Downes: Parents of 14-year-old girl who went missing 20 years ago want end to 'nightmare'

Prosecutors claimed during a 2007 trial that Charlene's body had been dismembered and disposed of at a kebab shop in Blackpool.

news.sky.com

 

[Megsc]

It's so sad to read that parents have been harassed and threatened this way.. people are insane.
I don't feel like that sweet little girl is still alive today, but I hope that, atleast, someday she will get justice.

 

[StillDiggin]

Smiling and dancing, the last picture of Charlene Downes before tragedy struck

The school girl wasn't seen again hours after CCTV footage captured her inside Carousel Bar

www.lancs.live

 

[cardiologist4976257]

Murder On The Golden Mile: Mystery Disappearance Of Schoolgirl Charlene Downes, 14, Remains Unsolved As Case Gains Fresh Attention 29 Years

Charlene Downes vanished 29 years ago. The murky details of her tragic life and death are only just coming to light.

radaronline.com

From this article:
"In 2014, Lancashire Police issued a fresh appeal and released CCTV taken from a camera in Blackpool the night Charlene disappeared. The grainy footage showed two young women walking past buildings in the town, heading in the direction of ‘paki-alley’. Police said the younger of the two women was Charlene. Last year, when confronted by Jen, police conceded that footage was not of Charlene. It appears to have been released as a fishing exercise."

So they knew all along that this wasn't her? That's a pretty messed up thing to do :/

Also, there is a new podcast series, What Happened to Charlene Downes? by Naomi Channell. I've not heard it yet, I'm going to download it in a minute.

REAL

True Crime Podcast · Real is an independent true crime podcast made by award winning TV Producer Naomi Channell. Each episode is an audio documentary, telling a true crime story that is almost unbelievable. But these sto…

podcasts.apple.com

 

[GuyfromCanada]

NOV 7, 2023

Police have launched a fresh appeal into the disappearance of a Coventry-born teenager two decades after she vanished in Blackpool. Charlene Downes went out for a day seemingly like any other but never made it home and the mystery of her disappearance remains unanswered.

Fresh bid to find Cov teen 20 years after she disappeared

Charlene mysteriously vanished without a trace on November 1, 2003

www.coventrytelegraph.net

 

[elframo]

Charlene is featured in this weeks The Missing podcast. There's an interview with her mother in this slightly extended podcast.

Services 1 — The Missing Podcast

www.themissingpodcast.org

I will add that this podcast is very descriptive and not for the easily offended.

 

[Bluebear15]

It's true. Aside from James Bulger, I can't think of a single working-class child, of any skin colour or gender, who made the front page when they disappeared.

I think that depends on your definition of working class...Sarah Payne, Holly Wells/Jessica Chapman, and Robert Black's victims came from working class families, and all made the front pages. All imo.

 

[mrC]

ie noticed iin crime reporting there is definite home counys bias charlene probley dident get on the front page beouse she dident live in the south east region is more important than class and race