UK UK - Greater London, WhtMale 20 - 30, Found In A Children's Playground, Jul'70

[Hochman]

Couldn't find a thread for this case.

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UK Missing Persons Unit
Case 14-000720

Hew Morrison Facebook

Composites by Hew Morrison


"A Body Of A Man Was Found In A Children's Playground, Secker Street, London, SE1 On 28th July 1970. Death Was Due To Multiple Injuries Consistent With Having Fallen From A Nearby Roof. A Postmortem Examination Also Revealed Presence Of Alcohol In The Blood."

DBF - 28 July 1970
Height - 5 Ft 7 Ins
Build - Stocky

Hair - Fair, Short
Blue eyes

Clothing (Reworded)
- Green Canvas Shoes
- Beige Crew Neck Jumper
- Purple Trousers

Possessions
- A Return Train Ticket From Farnborough, Hampshire To London, Issued On 17th July 1970
"From This It Is Assumed He Left Farnborough On That Say With Full Expectation Of Returning."

- A Small Amount Of Cash

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Locate International, who have been working on this case for well over a year, are launching a media appeal in the UK tomorrow to try to identify this chap. There will be posts on a wide range of social media channels including Facebook, X and TikTok, along with (hopefully) coverage in the local press and on local radio.

 

[Hochman]

Locate International, who have been working on this case for well over a year, are launching a media appeal in the UK tomorrow to try to identify this chap. There will be posts on a wide range of social media channels including Facebook, X and TikTok, along with (hopefully) coverage in the local press and on local radio.

Speaking of which, here's his Locate International page.

Secker Street Man — Locate International

locate.international

Edit: And updated UK missing page

https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/cases/case-14-000720

 

[Beekarina]

This young man was in the military and failed to report for duty in 1968. I'm not sure if more is known about him, any travel history, friend, family that could have been abroad, etc. but he just caught my eye while looking through men around the world who went missing in the appropriate timeframe.

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www.doenetwork.org

He does appear to have a diastema, sandy hair, blue eyes. There are a few other differences--a mole and a scar which I would hope would have been noted if the UID had either or both, but posting just in case. There do not seem to be very many men missing who were from Europe within the time frame. It is sad to think this young man has been nameless for so many years, so anything seems worth a try. Maybe gets people thinking and looking, at least.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

This young man was in the military and failed to report for duty in 1968. I'm not sure if more is known about him, any travel history, friend, family that could have been abroad, etc. but he just caught my eye while looking through men around the world who went missing in the appropriate timeframe.

Loading…

www.doenetwork.org

He does appear to have a diastema, sandy hair, blue eyes. There are a few other differences--a mole and a scar which I would hope would have been noted if the UID had either or both, but posting just in case. There do not seem to be very many men missing who were from Europe within the time frame. It is sad to think this young man has been nameless for so many years, so anything seems worth a try. Maybe gets people thinking and looking, at least.



View attachment 602225

That's a very interesting find and there's a good enough overall resemblance for it to be worth actively ruling Douglas out. At first glance Douglas's mole to the left of his chin and his cleft chin, as well as the question of how he could have got from the US to the UK without his AWOL status stopping him when he left/tried to leave the US, would appear to rule him out but he would certainly be worth looking into.

Thank you.

 

[Beekarina]

That's a very interesting find and there's a good enough overall resemblance for it to be worth actively ruling Douglas out. At first glance Douglas's mole to the left of his chin and his cleft chin, as well as the question of how he could have got from the US to the UK without his AWOL status stopping him when he left/tried to leave the US, would appear to rule him out but he would certainly be worth looking into.

Thank you.

Yes, agree. I may be reaching, so this is only ideas for how it may have happened:

Thanksgiving in 1968 was celebrated that Thursday. Maybe with an increase in holiday traffic, and everyone having holiday plans around the time of his disappearance, he slipped across the border in his car to Canada or Mexico and travelled on at some point to the United Kingdom. Mole removal seems easy enough, or the mole could have been scraped in a fall from the roofm and not noticed. It seems Douglas may have been fairly intelligent and/or skilled otherwise as he was an officer at 23. I think it would be interesting to learn more about him, so will see if he has a thread here. Meant to do so yesterday!

I think this UID found in London also has a bit of chin dimpling but it may be injury related. I cropped that area only from the post-mortem image linked in posts in this thread (nothing upsetting is shown) to compare with Douglas.

 

[Beekarina]

The diastema looks a bit different in both, but again I'm really not sure and just suggesting since it caught my eye. Edited: I will try to get a better resolution of both images and see how close and cleaned up I get get the teeth.

 

[Beekarina]

OK. Douglas has a thread here, but it has minimal activity and no additional information. I was able to download a higher quality image from Namus so we can compare the teeth around the diastema and his chin.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs)

 

[dotr]

• Jul 18, 2025 Updated 18 hrs ago rbbm.

Investigators stumped by 55-year-old cold case of missing man

A charity that investigates cold cases has released a new sketch of the unidentified man.

www.fairfieldsuntimes.com

''Investigators say Secker Street Man was carrying a return train ticket between Farnborough, Hants., and London Waterloo, purchased in the former.

Police investigations conducted in July 1970 are said to have looked into whether the man was stationed with the military there, but their investigations proved fruitless.''

Investigators added that the man's close-cropped hairstyle was unusual in the early 1970s, but was popular in the gay community at the time.

They urged anyone who was a hairdresser in Farnborough at the time to look at the new depiction of the deceased young man and to get in touch if anyone recognizes his 'unusual' hairstyle.

Investigators also noted that Pink Floyd played a free concert attended by more than 100,000 people in Hyde Park the day after Secker Street Man traveled into the city, asking if anyone had been 'intending to meet him there'.

''The team says they are also considering the possibility that he may have been in prison near Farnborough, or may have been among people displaced from the capital in "slum clearances."

 

[Beekarina]

Re:"Police investigations conducted in July 1970 are said to have looked into whether the man was stationed with the military there, but their investigations proved fruitless.''

and

Investigators added that the man's close-cropped hairstyle was unusual in the early 1970s, but was popular in the gay community at the time. "

Wow! Not to overly focus on Doug, but I had not realized this UID's hairstyle was considered unusual. I mean, I knew having longer hair was certainly common, but this is interesting. I hope they will take a look, and at least rule him out even though the distance and a few physical marks are a bit iffy.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Re:"Police investigations conducted in July 1970 are said to have looked into whether the man was stationed with the military there, but their investigations proved fruitless.''

and

Investigators added that the man's close-cropped hairstyle was unusual in the early 1970s, but was popular in the gay community at the time. "

Wow! Not to overly focus on Doug, but I had not realized this UID's hairstyle was considered unusual. I mean, I knew having longer hair was certainly common, but this is interesting. I hope they will take a look, and at least rule him out even though the distance and a few physical marks are a bit iffy.

Thanks for flagging this article. I don't think it was expected that the appeal would be picked up outside of the UK, but if there's a potential US connection/lead it's certainly welcome.

Yes, the possible gay connection was a surprise to the team looking into the case. It was suggested that since longer hair was fairly normal for young men at that time, paradoxically fairly "square" short hair was a counter-culture marker. Homosexual activity between consenting men had only been legalised in the UK in 1967 and continuing widespread distrust of gay men amongst society generally meant that few were "out".

 

[dotr]

Investigators stumped by 55-year-old cold case of missing man

A charity that investigates cold cases has released a new sketch of the unidentified man.

www.fairfieldsuntimes.com

The park where on Secker Street where the unidentified man was found dead. (Locate International via SWNS)

 

[Beekarina]

The sneakers really resemble Converse All Stars.

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

Investigators stumped by 55-year-old cold case of missing man

A charity that investigates cold cases has released a new sketch of the unidentified man.

www.fairfieldsuntimes.com

View attachment 602553
The park where on Secker Street where the unidentified man was found dead. (Locate International via SWNS)
View attachment 602552

If the playground/park in which the unidentified gentleman was found is the one shown in this article, it appears to be the church garden of St. John's Church, Waterloo.

Secker Street is a really small L-shaped street with few tall buildings nearby. If the man died in a fall and landed in the park, IMO it looks like he could only have fallen from the church itself, from the Stamford Street Apartments (which appear to have been a storage warehouse in 1970), or from the James Clerk Maxwell Building.

This area is part of the King's College Campus. Whether that is relevant or not, I don't know.

Google Maps

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Stamford Street - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Stamford Street Apartments, 127 Stamford Street - a student hall of residence. It was built during 1914-16 as a printing works for W H Smith & Son...It was sold to the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph in 1939, but was not occupied by them owing to the outbreak of war. It was badly damaged by bombing and subsequently used for storage.

James Clerk Maxwell Building, 57 Waterloo Road - a 9-storey, brick-built teaching facility for King's College London Waterloo Campus. It was formerly offices named Waterloo Bridge House and a post office.

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

If he wasn't found in the Church Garden, there is also a Catholic School on the corner of Secker Street and Cornwall Road, which appears to have a "children's playground".

Google Maps

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www.google.com

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

The St. John's Church garden did have a children's playground until it was renovated in recent years:

St John's Church, Waterloo - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

The churchyard was converted into a garden in 1877. In 1883 Lord Brabazon, the Chairman of the newly formed Metropolitan Public Gardens Association, gave a swing and giant stride as part of a children's playground; the MPGA itself provided parallel bars, a seesaw and six seats. In more recent years the garden had become neglected, but has since been restored. The playground equipment is no longer present.

The garden was apparently frequented by homeless and otherwise struggling people prior to the renovations:

St. John's Garden (2004-2017) — London School of Mosaic

In 2007 St John’s Garden was designated as a sculpture garden and received People’s Lottery support to transform it from a virtual no-go area, into a landscaped space to welcome the wider community. It had been used as a drinking site by homeless people displaced from the nearby Imax cinema underpas

www.lsomosaic.com

In 2007 St John’s Garden was designated as a sculpture garden and received People’s Lottery support to transform it from a virtual no-go area, into a landscaped space to welcome the wider community. It had been used as a drinking site by homeless people.

 

[Interested_But_Confused]

From the London Evening News, Saturday July 18 1970:

https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005765/19700718/180/0007

The man...was thought to have fallen 60ft from the roof of the International Publishing Corporation's printing plant.

Police questioned workers at the plant...after finding smears of printing ink on the dead man's arms.

So he was probably found roughly here, circled in red:

Secker St · London, UK

London, UK

www.google.com

 

[LucyOso]

This is an interesting one. Could he have come from a US military base? In UK or the continent? Took a leave to go see the concert? Someone who was reported AWOL? Or someone who did leave?



I also saw Douglas Richard Smith in my searches, hence the thought of the above.

 

[Beekarina]

I think we should dig into Doug's background a little. My genealogy subscriptions have lapsed--I typically work on that hobby over the winter as I'm not inside very much in the summer months--but it would be interesting to know if he has any recent connections to the UK. A lot of people do, of course, but where his car has also never been found, right there is a potential source of easy money for him. I think he could have sold it to someone in Mexico or something and onward, again just brainstorming. Now of course this wouldn't be as easy to do, but I think when he disappeared, it would have been.

Also, they say this man fell all a roof, but what if he was despondent and jumped? Even though the buildings are not very high, if he was drinking, may have gotten quite upset and done so impulsively vs a slip and fall. That could also fit in with someone who went AWOL.

Of course we do not know if Doug drove his car into a body of water or if he met with foul play in California, but it is weird to have a car and a man, especially a military officer, just up and vanish and not be found for so long, IMO. It also seems like we know very little about him, so worth calling some attention to his case as well and see what we can find.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

If the playground/park in which the unidentified gentleman was found is the one shown in this article, it appears to be the church garden of St. John's Church, Waterloo.

Secker Street is a really small L-shaped street with few tall buildings nearby. If the man died in a fall and landed in the park, IMO it looks like he could only have fallen from the church itself, from the Stamford Street Apartments (which appear to have been a storage warehouse in 1970), or from the James Clerk Maxwell Building.

This area is part of the King's College Campus. Whether that is relevant or not, I don't know.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

View attachment 602649

Stamford Street - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Stamford Street Apartments, 127 Stamford Street - a student hall of residence. It was built during 1914-16 as a printing works for W H Smith & Son...It was sold to the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph in 1939, but was not occupied by them owing to the outbreak of war. It was badly damaged by bombing and subsequently used for storage.

James Clerk Maxwell Building, 57 Waterloo Road - a 9-storey, brick-built teaching facility for King's College London Waterloo Campus. It was formerly offices named Waterloo Bridge House and a post office.

The information available has made it difficult to identify exactly where SSM fell from and where he was found. However, it's believed that he fell at or close to the slight kink in the Stamford Street Apartments close to the dogleg in Secker Street and where you can see vegetation climbing up the wall. The surroundings of the church were originally its churchyard but at the time in question the area north of the church was a bare playground which has since been turned back into a green space. The church itself was not used for worship at the time but was largely used for concerts of classical music and similar events.

The area has changed somewhat in the past 55 years, or at least the buildings that were there in 1970 generally remain but their use has changed. In 1970, what is now the SSA student residence contained the printing works used for Reveille, a weekly tabloid newspaper (Reveille (newspaper) - Wikipedia) which closed many years ago. The red brick and white building surrounded by Secker Street, Exton Street and Cornwall Road was occupied, at least in part, by the Union Jack Club, which provided social, welfare and support services to members of the armed forced. This too, is now student accommodation.