GUILTY UK - Helen Bailey, 51, Royston, 11 April 2016 #1

[Alyce]

I have no knowledge of cat or dog rescues but I am familiar with several rabbit rescues here in the UK, and they do tend to offer holiday boarding for animals that they have rehomed. For a very small local animal charity, seasonal holiday boarding can be a very useful source of income.

I had a look at websites for local Royston rescue centres - there are several - and indeed some of them do offer boarding facilities.

However, I have also now read that the call to the rescue centre was made a few weeks before Helen disappeared - ie; it was not made just before she disappeared, so who knows what it could have been about.

 

[MillyM]

Three weeks tomorrow...still nothing.

 

[JerseyGirl]

still missing: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...y-a-month-after-being-reported-missing-myste/

 

[Alyce]

JerseyGirl

I just read the same article - first update in a while.

I have copied out the snippet below, as it does give a little bit of extra info. It now seems that Helen did indicate where she was going, but clearly the police have not found her there.

Mrs Bailey, a 51-year-old children’s author disappeared from her large detached home in Royston nearly a month ago, on Monday April 11. She left with her beloved dachshund, Boris, after leaving a note to her current partner, Ian Stewart, saying that she “needed some time to herself” and was heading to their seaside holiday home in Broadstairs, Kent.


I have been reading some of her blog/book and she comes across with warmth and humour in the midst of her grief. I sincerely hope she just changed her mind and went to stay somewhere else. It is so worrying that she would not tell even one friend that she is ok.

 

[MillyM]

You would have thought, though, she would have been spotted by someone, by now? Even if she herself perhaps looked a bit different to the pictures, she couldn't disguise the dog! Plus, she could have made contact with the police and just said she was okay but didn't want her whereabouts to be divulged.

She was apparently seen the day she went missing in her local Royston area, so how did she get to Kent if she had no car? If by rail surely CCTV would have picked up?

Now the scene shifts to the Kent coast. Why only yesterday has this been mentioned, when it was known all along seemingly as she said on note? Really such a lot in this story that doesn't add up, or at least is being kept from the public.

 

[mrazda71]

This makes me think there's much much more detail that we're not being told.
How was she supposedly travelling to the holiday home? By car, train, taxi, on foot!?! Did she arrive? Is there any evidence that she arrived? Has the large amount of cash available been taken? No cctv sightings anywhere?

 

[Plumeria5]

Is this the first time we have heard she was traveling to the holiday home? She states that she should never have left London and that she may not have been happy about moving with her fiance to a more country setting. I am hoping she is in hiding, snuggled with Boris somewhere, writing her next book.

 

[Alyce]

I agree with all of you. I think there is much more to this story that has not been made public.

In the first instance, it is rather unusual, imo, for the police to take such a heavy interest in the disappearance of a 51 year old woman, who has left a note saying that she was going away as she needed some time to herself. I would have thought the more usual response would be to tell the family that there is not much they can do, but instead they seem to have done a large amount of searching and checking.


Re the cottage in Broadstairs Kent ( which is actually not a cottage as such, but a mid terrace house in the town ) there is a bit in the article that says the police have searched the property and also spoken to neighbours, all of whom say the last time they saw Helen at the property was Easter. So clearly she did not go there.

snipped from article
Officers have interviewed neighbours in Broadstairs and Royston, searched both properties and even drained the cess pit in her back garden in Hertfordshire.


Possibly she used the cottage explanation as an excuse, hoping that no one would try to contact her if they knew where she had gone but had actually planned to go elsewhere.
Or perhaps she did intend to go there but then changed her mind en route.


From Royston to Broadstairs is a fairly easy journey.
Train to London ( Kings Cross ) is 48 minutes with a frequent service. Then a very short walk to St Pancras Station ( London ) and train from there to Broadstairs is 1 and quarter hours.
From Broadstairs station to the cottage is a 7 minute walk.

But, so far, no sightings on CCTV which is just not possible surely if she was taking a train ( or even a bus ).

The only way I can see that she departed Royston would have to be in a car ( obviously not her own ).

 

[Alyce]

I re read this article from the Daily Mail, which has been updated ( see snipped part below ).
Originally, I remember the information was just that a truck driver had seen someone who looked like Helen and that the woman was wearing a green Barbour style jacket.
The information has now been expanded to say that Helen has a similar jacket and this jacket seems to be missing from her home.

What puzzles me is , if she left her home in Royston on the Monday, what was she doing, wandering around in the rain on the Tuesday, 11 miles down the road. If it was her, that doesn't sound like someone who has just gone off to be by herself.






Officers also revealed yesterday that a lorry driver saw Mrs Bailey walking 11 miles from her Hertfordshire home on April 12, the day after she went missing.

They have still not managed to track Mrs Bailey’s phone because it is switched off. Her bank accounts have not been accessed and she has not been seen on CCTV cameras.

The driver told officers the woman appeared ‘bedraggled’ and was wearing a long green Barbour-style jacket, the same make owned by Mrs Bailey but which cannot be found at her home in Royston.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...le-sightings-51-year-old-disappeared-dog.html

 

[Plumeria5]

Agatha Christie disappearance stress related amnesia.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2006/oct/15/books.booksnews

 

[Tortoise]

I think what's rather odd about this is that the alarm was raised at all, at that early stage, if she had said she wanted time alone. People would usually respect such a request and not make a missing persons report, even if she had switched off her phone.

I also think it could be strange (depending on the relationship) that they would not have been in touch with each other to confirm she had arrived safely. She's not a child but it is usual to care enough to want to know. Unless there had been a disagreement or falling out or some problem before the disappearance, which I have to admit seems likely to me, if she wanted time away. If she had been feeling down I think I would have wanted to know as her partner that she was safe.

This may have happened and we've not been told of course.

 

[ravenette]

I think that maybe Helen's partner called the police after he was unable to contact her by phone for a few days. I agree that there was most likely a falling out and this was the trigger for her to leave while he was out on an errand. If Helen had decided to make a clean break and start a new life or needed an extended break on her own then I can see no reason why she would contact anyone.

I read in yesterdays Telegraph that the police plan to map all the barns/outhouses in the area and then search them, tbh I'm surprised that this hasn't been done already. It's these elements of the investigation that ring alarm bells - like searching the septic tank - it's not like Helen would have put herself in there.

I'm still hopeful that Helen and Boris are together somewhere safe and as the old saying goes ..... no news is good news.

 

[Alyce]

Tortoise, I thought the same as you initially - why would Helen be reported as missing when she had left a note and gone off to have time on her own.
But with the later update that I read, the bit about her note saying that she was going to her cottage - but then did not go there - then I agree with Ravenette, that I think her partner alerted, when he was unable to contact her.

 

[MillyM]

Well, four weeks today and still in same position as the first week.

I just keep wondering what we (the public) are being told and what we aren't. Obviously there might be things the police can't divulge at this time, but I do question the reason why no TV appeals. On the main news channels, the partner or son would possibly have more impact. Believe it or not there are still many who don't have internet or read the Telegraph or Mail!

If the partner is ill, why not the son who lives with them? He's on Facebook updating and seemingly going about his normal life without undue effect...

I also wonder why the media have been asked not to approach the partner? Because he's terminally ill? If so, that in itself raises questions as to whether she would have wanted to cause all this worry and concern to him by going missing? Or, indeed, whether she has maybe had some kind of breakdown due to the fear of becoming a widow for the second time in 5 years?

 

[Alyce]

I agree Milly, almost no further on than the first day the police announced that Helen was missing.

Considering the huge amount of resources the police seem to be putting into the search, I also find it strange that they have not asked a family member to do an appeal. As you say, if the partner cannot then there is surely someone else who could.

I really, really want to believe that Helen has just gone to ground somewhere and, for whatever reason, is unaware that there is any concern about her...but as each day passes, I find that harder to accept. If she has deliberately kept her phone switched off and we know she is not staying where she said she would be, then she must surely be aware by now that people will be worrying about her. From everything I have read of her, she sounds very kind and caring so it does seem out of character not to at least send a message to advise that she is ok.

 

[AmandaSkis]

Where did LE get the info that Helen had access to a "four figure sum of money"? I wonder if the availability of that money has been verified.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/06/where-is-helen-bailey-author-missing/

 

[Alyce]

Where did LE get the info that Helen had access to a "four figure sum of money"? I wonder if the availability of that money has been verified.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/05/06/where-is-helen-bailey-author-missing/

I know the police are not under any obligation to tell us anything, but most of the info coming from this case ( if indeed it even is a case ) is piecemeal at best. If HB did have access to a large cash sum, then either it has gone or it is there. But the way the article is written leaves that information very vague.

Likewise the info that the note Helen left advised that she was heading to her cottage in Kent. I have since seen another article which says that her friends thought she might have gone to her cottage in Kent.

I wonder if this is MSM getting just snippets of info and it being interpreted in different ways.

 

[AmandaSkis]

I know the police are not under any obligation to tell us anything, but most of the info coming from this case ( if indeed it even is a case ) is piecemeal at best. If HB did have access to a large cash sum, then either it has gone or it is there. But the way the article is written leaves that information very vague.

Likewise the info that the note Helen left advised that she was heading to her cottage in Kent. I have since seen another article which says that her friends thought she might have gone to her cottage in Kent.

I wonder if this is MSM getting just snippets of info and it being interpreted in different ways.

In either case, it is frustrating from a standpoint of wanting to help.

What I find odd is how police were searching places like septic tanks. I mean, HB supposedly leaves a note, saying she is going to her cottage in Kent, yet police start looking in septic tanks??

http://www.itv.com/news/anglia/upda...ptic-tank-and-garden-at-missing-authors-home/

 

[Satchie]

What I find odd is how police were searching places like septic tanks. I mean, HB supposedly leaves a note, saying she is going to her cottage in Kent, yet police start looking

Police are not naive, when a woman goes missing they must consider the possibility of foul play.

 

[MillyM]

Police launching fresh appeal.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...-appeal-today-loved-ones-asking-question.html