UK UK - Kevin Hicks, 16, Croydon, 2 March 1986

[THX]

As always, thanks for replying!

I had read in newspaper archives about searches but couldn't find anywhere specific. Something about the similarity with Reece Collins, and the proximity to the Reece Collins case makes me think it could be nearby woodland that should be/should've been searched to rule it out as a deposit site.

It's interesting what you said there about a lad looking so much like Kevin, because I believe I also read a similar thing in a newspaper archive that happened with Kevin's mother after his disappearance. She was driving about and happened to see a lad that looked so much like Kevin!

It makes me wonder how reliable the supposed 10pm sighting actually is. He was seen by a girl who he worked with at the Co-Op, but I'm assuming it was from a distance or across the road because it's not ever been mentioned that they spoke. As I'm sure anything that Kevin could've said would've been seen as extremely significant.

So what if the girl, some distance away and only lit by streetlights as it was dark, only saw a boy that looked like Kevin, as it's been established that Kevin must've had a kind of 'look' that was popular at the time.

On another note, Alex Hicks has started up an Instagram in the hopes of renewing interest and raising awareness in Kevin's case. With it being 40 years yesterday, I really hope she gets somewhere and hopefully gets a new investigation into Kevin's disappearance started.

2nd March is a really horrible day for unsolved cases of missing young men. Apart from Kevin, there is the case of Mark Garvey in Liverpool in 1987 and more recently Jack O'Sullivan in 2024. All missing on 2nd March.

The thing with the stereo is really interesting isn't. It really does make you wonder what evidence the police have that it formed part of the grooming. As I recall, it was said at the time that Kevin bought it with a bonus from his job at the Co-op. Perhaps they checked with the Co-op and there was no such bonus.

So, it seems that Kevin used money to pay for it rather than being given the stereo outright. That made me think of something that my friend who grew up in Croydon told me. He said that it was not unknown for some teenagers in Croydon to "pose for photos" *ahem* for a bit of money. Thinking about it, I actually knew a couple of lads I was at university with who'd done something similar, although they were 18 / 19 when they did it. I wonder if Kevin had been given money for something similar. He's also told his dad the night before that he was broke, and borrowed money from him to go ice skating. I wonder perhaps if on the night he disappeared, he'd been hoping to get some extra money from someone who had been giving him money before. As I recall, it would not have been illegal at the time for a 16 year old back then to appear in photos, although worth remembering that Kevin had only just turned 16 a couple of weeks earlier.

I had another look through the newspaper archives and it was shocking just how violent the local area was back then, including in Lower Addiscombe Road where Kevin was supposed to be going to the shop. Rapes, assaults, burglaries, hold ups, all just on that one street alone.

There were a couple of interesting articles about Shirley Hills. One was from just a few weeks before Kevin disappeared, saying that a man in his 50s who was walking his dog was violently attacked by a 25 year old man in Shirley Hills, and the description of the man matched another attack also in Shirley Hills. Interestingly, the policeman the newspaper quoted in the article was one of the policemen who later got caught up in the Daniel Morgan murder scandal, Derek Haslam. Another reminder of just how much was going on in the local area at that time.

The second article was in the Daily Mirror in 1985. It said that Shirley Hills was not only a well known gay cruising area, it was also very popular with straight people, engaging in what the tabloids used to love to call in their awful sexist language "wife swapping", but what we'd probably call dogging now. They said that it was quite a sophisticated set up, and the straight people involved often arranged meet ups through what would have been coded "adverts" in newspapers. It's a good insight into how a lot of covert sexual encounters used to be arranged back then before the internet, through personal columns etc in newspapers. I'm sure somebody could do quite a detailed academic study of it.

 

[THX]

Any fingerprints found on the stereo?

Sending my love to your family, Kevin, and to you. I really hope you come home soon. I'm so sorry x

As I recall, they said that Kevin bought the stereo with his money, which probably means that they believe Kevin was being given money as part of the grooming, rather than being given the stereo

 

[BrutishGoose32]

2nd March is a really horrible day for unsolved cases of missing young men. Apart from Kevin, there is the case of Mark Garvey in Liverpool in 1987 and more recently Jack O'Sullivan in 2024. All missing on 2nd March.

The thing with the stereo is really interesting isn't. It really does make you wonder what evidence the police have that it formed part of the grooming. As I recall, it was said at the time that Kevin bought it with a bonus from his job at the Co-op. Perhaps they checked with the Co-op and there was no such bonus.

So, it seems that Kevin used money to pay for it rather than being given the stereo outright. That made me think of something that my friend who grew up in Croydon told me. He said that it was not unknown for some teenagers in Croydon to "pose for photos" *ahem* for a bit of money. Thinking about it, I actually knew a couple of lads I was at university with who'd done something similar, although they were 18 / 19 when they did it. I wonder if Kevin had been given money for something similar. He's also told his dad the night before that he was broke, and borrowed money from him to go ice skating. I wonder perhaps if on the night he disappeared, he'd been hoping to get some extra money from someone who had been giving him money before. As I recall, it would not have been illegal at the time for a 16 year old back then to appear in photos, although worth remembering that Kevin had only just turned 16 a couple of weeks earlier.

I had another look through the newspaper archives and it was shocking just how violent the local area was back then, including in Lower Addiscombe Road where Kevin was supposed to be going to the shop. Rapes, assaults, burglaries, hold ups, all just on that one street alone.

There were a couple of interesting articles about Shirley Hills. One was from just a few weeks before Kevin disappeared, saying that a man in his 50s who was walking his dog was violently attacked by a 25 year old man in Shirley Hills, and the description of the man matched another attack also in Shirley Hills. Interestingly, the policeman the newspaper quoted in the article was one of the policemen who later got caught up in the Daniel Morgan murder scandal, Derek Haslam. Another reminder of just how much was going on in the local area at that time.

The second article was in the Daily Mirror in 1985. It said that Shirley Hills was not only a well known gay cruising area, it was also very popular with straight people, engaging in what the tabloids used to love to call in their awful sexist language "wife swapping", but what we'd probably call dogging now. They said that it was quite a sophisticated set up, and the straight people involved often arranged meet ups through what would have been coded "adverts" in newspapers. It's a good insight into how a lot of covert sexual encounters used to be arranged back then before the internet, through personal columns etc in newspapers. I'm sure somebody could do quite a detailed academic study of it.

I've seen a few articles lately on Jack O'Sullivan, and was recently reading about Mark Garvey. Spooky coincidence that they all happened on the 2nd March. It happens too often where boys or young men just disappear completely without a trace.

Yeah, the stereo is really interesting because so much about what's known isn't even concrete. I wonder if it's a case of Kevin told his parents he bought it with his parents but the police determined it was too expensive for him to have been able to afford. Were any cash withdrawals, or receipts looked into that would've proved whether he bought it himself? Was he skint because he'd spent all his money on the speakers?

It's a bit of a sickening thought that men would be out there getting under 18s to pose for photos for their own gratification, but the more I read about crime in the 80s, it starts to pale in comparison.

I can't help but think Kevin's trip to the shop was genuine, as it was fairly late at night to be going out, and it would only be a 5 - 10 minute trip. He would have to have come home with eggs! He never took more than £1 with him or even his keys. Hypothetically, If he went off to do something else and was gone until let's say 10pm when he was supposedly last sighted, and came home without eggs, he'd surely have been in a lot of bother?

I do feel it's likely he stumbled into something he didn't expect to, and maybe seen something he shouldn't have, but to completely disappear without a trace ever being found just baffles me.

It's a shame the 40th anniversary has come and gone without a new investigation being launched, makes me think the police really do have nothing to go on. Interestingly, I read on a page for Lee Boxell, that someone had submitted a FOIA to the police for Lee's and Kevin's cases and was denied.

 

[THX]

I've seen a few articles lately on Jack O'Sullivan, and was recently reading about Mark Garvey. Spooky coincidence that they all happened on the 2nd March. It happens too often where boys or young men just disappear completely without a trace.

Yeah, the stereo is really interesting because so much about what's known isn't even concrete. I wonder if it's a case of Kevin told his parents he bought it with his parents but the police determined it was too expensive for him to have been able to afford. Were any cash withdrawals, or receipts looked into that would've proved whether he bought it himself? Was he skint because he'd spent all his money on the speakers?

It's a bit of a sickening thought that men would be out there getting under 18s to pose for photos for their own gratification, but the more I read about crime in the 80s, it starts to pale in comparison.

I can't help but think Kevin's trip to the shop was genuine, as it was fairly late at night to be going out, and it would only be a 5 - 10 minute trip. He would have to have come home with eggs! He never took more than £1 with him or even his keys. Hypothetically, If he went off to do something else and was gone until let's say 10pm when he was supposedly last sighted, and came home without eggs, he'd surely have been in a lot of bother?

I do feel it's likely he stumbled into something he didn't expect to, and maybe seen something he shouldn't have, but to completely disappear without a trace ever being found just baffles me.

It's a shame the 40th anniversary has come and gone without a new investigation being launched, makes me think the police really do have nothing to go on. Interestingly, I read on a page for Lee Boxell, that someone had submitted a FOIA to the police for Lee's and Kevin's cases and was denied.

There's an old newspaper article where they speak to the family about the events of the night. They weren't overly concerned for the first hour or two - his mother said "I expect he's bumped into someone and is just chatting". His sister Alexandra complained that they treated him differently to her and they would have made a fuss if she'd stayed out late. It maybe implies that him being away for a while wasn't too unusual. Certainly I know my friends and I used to string out walks as long as we could because we were so bored. There really was nothing you do back then, and kids just used end going for long walks round and round the local area to kill time, or end up sorting in places like the local park. There's a good article I read a while back about how it was the era of absolute boredom for teenagers, and it really was.

I think again it also goes back to the different way 16 year olds were treated back, effectively as young, semi independent adults. Kevin also had a key for the house so was probably used to coming and going. The general view among the working class was "You're 16, you've left school, you should be working full time now and earning and contributing to the house because you're effectively an adult".

I came across this schools programme the other day from 1984. It looks at the real problem there was back then with glue sniffing amongst teenagers and the grime and violence it caused. I don't think there's any evidence that Kevin was involved in that at all, but a lot of kids of his age around him will have been, and it's a really good look at how desolate the 1980s were. It's well worth a watch if you want to get a feel for the era that Kevin lived in and what it was like to be a teenager back then. The link is below:

 

[THX]

I've seen a few articles lately on Jack O'Sullivan, and was recently reading about Mark Garvey. Spooky coincidence that they all happened on the 2nd March. It happens too often where boys or young men just disappear completely without a trace.

Yeah, the stereo is really interesting because so much about what's known isn't even concrete. I wonder if it's a case of Kevin told his parents he bought it with his parents but the police determined it was too expensive for him to have been able to afford. Were any cash withdrawals, or receipts looked into that would've proved whether he bought it himself? Was he skint because he'd spent all his money on the speakers?

It's a bit of a sickening thought that men would be out there getting under 18s to pose for photos for their own gratification, but the more I read about crime in the 80s, it starts to pale in comparison.

I can't help but think Kevin's trip to the shop was genuine, as it was fairly late at night to be going out, and it would only be a 5 - 10 minute trip. He would have to have come home with eggs! He never took more than £1 with him or even his keys. Hypothetically, If he went off to do something else and was gone until let's say 10pm when he was supposedly last sighted, and came home without eggs, he'd surely have been in a lot of bother?

I do feel it's likely he stumbled into something he didn't expect to, and maybe seen something he shouldn't have, but to completely disappear without a trace ever being found just baffles me.

It's a shame the 40th anniversary has come and gone without a new investigation being launched, makes me think the police really do have nothing to go on. Interestingly, I read on a page for Lee Boxell, that someone had submitted a FOIA to the police for Lee's and Kevin's cases and was denied.

Do you know what the FOI request was specifically about? It's not uncommon for them to be refused, especially if giving out information may compromise an investigation or provide information about people / deeds that haven't been publicly named or gone through the trial process. Potential libel in some cases. The data protection laws are pretty strict. Another reason why requests are often turned down is if they might provide a source of public distress for relatives of people involved. For example, a lot of Kenneth Williams' diaries are still locked away in the British Library with nobody allowed to see them because of the data protection laws - because of what he said in those diaries about certain people and what they had been up to.

I suppose the key thing we need to explain is why Kevin was seen on Shirley Road well over an hour after he left the house, when it's only a 10 minute walk away from his home and nowhere near where shops were. Where had he been for that time? Also worry noting that the people in the shop he was meant have gone to had no memory of seeing him that night. So it seems as if he may not have gone there.

 

[BrutishGoose32]

Do you know what the FOI request was specifically about? It's not uncommon for them to be refused, especially if giving out information may compromise an investigation or provide information about people / deeds that haven't been publicly named or gone through the trial process. Potential libel in some cases. The data protection laws are pretty strict. Another reason why requests are often turned down is if they might provide a source of public distress for relatives of people involved. For example, a lot of Kenneth Williams' diaries are still locked away in the British Library with nobody allowed to see them because of the data protection laws - because of what he said in those diaries about certain people and what they had been up to.

I suppose the key thing we need to explain is why Kevin was seen on Shirley Road well over an hour after he left the house, when it's only a 10 minute walk away from his home and nowhere near where shops were. Where had he been for that time? Also worry noting that the people in the shop he was meant have gone to had no memory of seeing him that night. So it seems as if he may not have gone there.

The person who posted said it was for independent research into historic missing persons in the UK and not seeking anybody's personal data. Their aim was to understand the review process and current status of such cases. They wanted to know if both cases were regarded as open, inactive or closed. Whether the case had been reopened or reinvestigated at any point, and if anybody had been formally interviewed or arrested in either case. All of which was denied. The specific post is on the "Someone Knows What Happened To Lee Boxell" Facebook Group.

I am a bit unsure on whether that sighting was correct or not, as I said in a previous post there's not much to go on there. I'm assuming Kevin didn't speak to the girl, as that has never been reported, despite them knowing each other (Surely if they spoke it would be significant no matter what was said). It was also dark at that point and as I've pointed out previously, there's a few instances of someone looking like Kevin but not being Kevin. I know it's always been reported that the last confirmed sighting was outside the Cricketer's Pub at 10pm, but I just personally don't feel convinced by that sighting.

 

[THX]

The person who posted said it was for independent research into historic missing persons in the UK and not seeking anybody's personal data. Their aim was to understand the review process and current status of such cases. They wanted to know if both cases were regarded as open, inactive or closed. Whether the case had been reopened or reinvestigated at any point, and if anybody had been formally interviewed or arrested in either case. All of which was denied. The specific post is on the "Someone Knows What Happened To Lee Boxell" Facebook Group.

I am a bit unsure on whether that sighting was correct or not, as I said in a previous post there's not much to go on there. I'm assuming Kevin didn't speak to the girl, as that has never been reported, despite them knowing each other (Surely if they spoke it would be significant no matter what was said). It was also dark at that point and as I've pointed out previously, there's a few instances of someone looking like Kevin but not being Kevin. I know it's always been reported that the last confirmed sighting was outside the Cricketer's Pub at 10pm, but I just personally don't feel convinced by that sighting.

I believe it was a woman rather than a girl who saw him, I may be wrong. As I recall, it said in the newspaper articles in 1986 that the police were taking that sighting seriously. I don't know why they did (perhaps she was able to say how he was dressed or had spoken to him) or if they subsequently changed their minds and thought it wasn't him that she saw. This is part of the problem with the case. Nobody who knew Kevin apart from his sister has ever really spoken about what they knew or saw, and I think a lot of that is because the case has never had any real publicity. They really need to do a programme about it like they did with Lee Boxell, where his friends and family were interviewed. There's just so little concrete information out there. It's a shame for example that Kevin's friend whom he went ice skating with the night before and I think spent Sunday afternoon in the park with him has not said anything publicly.

I think the main difference with the Lee Boxell case is that there is a suspect who has been publicly named, William Lambert, and people seem to have agreed that it was most likely him, including Lee's dad (he spoke about it on a podcast).

Regarding the status of cold case investigations in general, there is further info in the link below about the guidelines on how police should approach them, and how often cases are looked at again:

Police reviews and long term searches

In most situations a missing person investigation is considered long term after 12 months, at this point the investigation will be reviewed to consider if it ca

www.missingpeople.org.uk

I thought you might also find this article interesting in relation to the Jack O'Sullivan case. It was written in 2019, 5 years before he disappeared, about the number of young men who fall into water and drown. It said that a disproportionate amount are students (which Jack was), most are in the cold months including March (when Jack disappeared) and many had been drinking (which Jack had been)

Why Do So Many Young Men Go Missing And Drown After A Night Out?

On average 17 men disappear each year after, and most are later found dead in rivers and canals.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

 

[BrutishGoose32]

I believe it was a woman rather than a girl who saw him, I may be wrong. As I recall, it said in the newspaper articles in 1986 that the police were taking that sighting seriously. I don't know why they did (perhaps she was able to say how he was dressed or had spoken to him) or if they subsequently changed their minds and thought it wasn't him that she saw. This is part of the problem with the case. Nobody who knew Kevin apart from his sister has ever really spoken about what they knew or saw, and I think a lot of that is because the case has never had any real publicity. They really need to do a programme about it like they did with Lee Boxell, where his friends and family were interviewed. There's just so little concrete information out there. It's a shame for example that Kevin's friend whom he went ice skating with the night before and I think spent Sunday afternoon in the park with him has not said anything publicly.

I think the main difference with the Lee Boxell case is that there is a suspect who has been publicly named, William Lambert, and people seem to have agreed that it was most likely him, including Lee's dad (he spoke about it on a podcast).

Regarding the status of cold case investigations in general, there is further info in the link below about the guidelines on how police should approach them, and how often cases are looked at again:

Police reviews and long term searches

In most situations a missing person investigation is considered long term after 12 months, at this point the investigation will be reviewed to consider if it ca

www.missingpeople.org.uk

I thought you might also find this article interesting in relation to the Jack O'Sullivan case. It was written in 2019, 5 years before he disappeared, about the number of young men who fall into water and drown. It said that a disproportionate amount are students (which Jack was), most are in the cold months including March (when Jack disappeared) and many had been drinking (which Jack had been)

Why Do So Many Young Men Go Missing And Drown After A Night Out?

On average 17 men disappear each year after, and most are later found dead in rivers and canals.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

I'll need to double check but I was sure it was someone who worked with him at the co-op, so I maybe just assumed it was a girl similar age to him, that's my bad! You're right that is part of the issue with this case. I know there's only really Alex left of Kevin's family to tell the story of Kevin's disappearance, and there aren't multiple named witnesses saying they saw Kevin either.

It's similar to Lee's case in that there was a 'confirmed' sighting of him outside Tesco (Now an Asda) in Sutton on the day he disappeared, but has never been seen since.

On the subject of Lee, I'm not sure if the Killer Gravedigger theory is even the correct one. I've read countless times from people who knew Lee at the time that Lee wasn't a smoker or drinker and that people who did go to 'The Shed' never saw him there because he just wasn't the type (see image below). Then of course the whole graveyard was excavated and searched a few years ago (apart from the actual graves themselves, crucially) and they never found a trace of anything.

Anyway, I'm not saying everyone's wrong and I'm right, just how I feel about Lee's case and why.

It's a really sad thing about Jack O'Sullivan, a couple of mysterious things about his phone too that casts doubt on his location. I think that case is sadly probably one of slipping into the river and drowning.

Back to Kevin, what do you make of the call in 1996 to the police from someone claiming to know where Kevin's remains were? Hoax call?

 

[THX]

I'll need to double check but I was sure it was someone who worked with him at the co-op, so I maybe just assumed it was a girl similar age to him, that's my bad! You're right that is part of the issue with this case. I know there's only really Alex left of Kevin's family to tell the story of Kevin's disappearance, and there aren't multiple named witnesses saying they saw Kevin either.

It's similar to Lee's case in that there was a 'confirmed' sighting of him outside Tesco (Now an Asda) in Sutton on the day he disappeared, but has never been seen since.

On the subject of Lee, I'm not sure if the Killer Gravedigger theory is even the correct one. I've read countless times from people who knew Lee at the time that Lee wasn't a smoker or drinker and that people who did go to 'The Shed' never saw him there because he just wasn't the type (see image below). Then of course the whole graveyard was excavated and searched a few years ago (apart from the actual graves themselves, crucially) and they never found a trace of anything.

View attachment 650591

Anyway, I'm not saying everyone's wrong and I'm right, just how I feel about Lee's case and why.

It's a really sad thing about Jack O'Sullivan, a couple of mysterious things about his phone too that casts doubt on his location. I think that case is sadly probably one of slipping into the river and drowning.

Back to Kevin, what do you make of the call in 1996 to the police from someone claiming to know where Kevin's remains were? Hoax call?

I'll see if I can dig out the TV documentary about Lee. As I recall, Kevin gets a brief mention in it too.

There was also quite a good podcast series about Lee's case by Mark Williams Thomas. One of the interesting bits was an interview with a man who said he'd been groomed when he was around 14 for several years afterwards, by a man back in the 1980s who worked in a bike shop opposite where he had a Saturday job in Sutton.The podcast series is called "The Detective" as I recall.

Regarding the phonecall, the police said they'd like to speak to that woman. I don't know if they just want to eliminate her from the inquiry, or if she she said something which tallied with what they knew. It's a really odd thing. She doesn't seem to have made any attempt to get back in touch in the 30 years since 1996. It's really hard without further information to know whether she was a crank or whether she actually knew something. There was a very sad thing in some of the newspaper articles where Kevin's mother said she'd been receiving phone calls at work where the person wouldn't say anything and then hung up, and of course that left her wondering whether it might be Kevin when it was probably crank.

 

[BrutishGoose32]

I'll see if I can dig out the TV documentary about Lee. As I recall, Kevin gets a brief mention in it too.

There was also quite a good podcast series about Lee's case by Mark Williams Thomas. One of the interesting bits was an interview with a man who said he'd been groomed when he was around 14 for several years afterwards, by a man back in the 1980s who worked in a bike shop opposite where he had a Saturday job in Sutton.The podcast series is called "The Detective" as I recall.

Regarding the phonecall, the police said they'd like to speak to that woman. I don't know if they just want to eliminate her from the inquiry, or if she she said something which tallied with what they knew. It's a really odd thing. She doesn't seem to have made any attempt to get back in touch in the 30 years since 1996. It's really hard without further information to know whether she was a crank or whether she actually knew something. There was a very sad thing in some of the newspaper articles where Kevin's mother said she'd been receiving phone calls at work where the person wouldn't say anything and then hung up, and of course that left her wondering whether it might be Kevin when it was probably crank.

Is it the Missing or Murdered one? I've seen that before, very sad for all involved.

The podcast is an interesting one, it brings up the watch which was supposedly Lee's being recovered. Other than that I don't know what to make of it all, it's all very clear that William Lambert was a very bad man, but I still don't know if I believe that he had anything to do with Lee's disappearance.

I can imagine there's plenty of cranks out there, but I can't believe the call wasn't traced, as surely it would've been imperative to speak to that person!

From what I've read, there's no new movement on Kevin's case, and that the case worker has been very hard to get hold of. Very frustrating, especially on the 40th anniversary. I definitely feel like a whole new set of eyes needs to be put on this.

 

[THX]

Is it the Missing or Murdered one? I've seen that before, very sad for all involved.

The podcast is an interesting one, it brings up the watch which was supposedly Lee's being recovered. Other than that I don't know what to make of it all, it's all very clear that William Lambert was a very bad man, but I still don't know if I believe that he had anything to do with Lee's disappearance.

I can imagine there's plenty of cranks out there, but I can't believe the call wasn't traced, as surely it would've been imperative to speak to that person!

From what I've read, there's no new movement on Kevin's case, and that the case worker has been very hard to get hold of. Very frustrating, especially on the 40th anniversary. I definitely feel like a whole new set of eyes needs to be put on this.

I think it was the Missing or Murdered one, yeah. The thing about Lee's watch was strange wasn't it.

I was just trying to think back as to whether calls were easily traceable in 1996. I think it was only November 1994 when the 1471 feature was introduced, and it was probably still quite primitive in 1996. Perhaps the call was made from a phone box and of course that would make it very hard to trace whoever made the call, even if they knew where the call was made.

I don't know if you also follow the recent podcast series about Claudia Lawrence called "Answers for Claudia" ? The most recent episode of that featured a woman who had been friends with Claudia when they were teenagers, and she went through some letters they had exchanged back then to give a better idea of what Claudia was like as a person at that age. It's a shame there's nothing really like that from Kevin's friends, although of course you never know what has gone on that we don't know about.

I wonder what the actual state of Kevin's case is: whether the Police have hit a dead end, or whether it's more like Claudia's case, where they seem to have a fairly firm idea of who they believe did it, but don't have enough evidence to press charges. I think there's probably an awful lot about Kevin's case that is still not in the public domain. I may be wrong but I think I remember Kevin's sister saying once that when her parents died, the Police told her things about the case that her parents had been told, but which her parents had never told her. Does make you wonder what exactly that was.

I suppose the outside possibility in Kevin's case is that he is still actually alive. Stranger things have happened, although it seems unlikely, especially if the Police now seem fairly sure that he was murdered. They must have some reasonably firm information to make that assumption publicly. Of all the missing people cases, the person I suspect is most likely to still be alive is Andrew Gosden.

Another case in the link below in the news recently, about the remains being found of a man who went missing 13 years ago. Just shows you that people can be found at any time:

https://www.itv.com/news/calendar/2026-03-06/human-remains-identified-as-father-missing-for-13-years

 

[OnlyS]

I've seen a few articles lately on Jack O'Sullivan, and was recently reading about Mark Garvey. Spooky coincidence that they all happened on the 2nd March. It happens too often where boys or young men just disappear completely without a trace.

I was also thinking about this and also whether there are concentrations of unsolved crimes with the same date in particular areas. I would have thought that the police are already thinking about this and leveraging AI to do the mapping for them as they are digitising records for analysis. it could be that there is a cluster on the 2nd March and then another on another significant date. JMOO

I just found another for the 2nd March Terry McSpadden

 

[THX]

I was also thinking about this and also whether there are concentrations of unsolved crimes with the same date in particular areas. I would have thought that the police are already thinking about this and leveraging AI to do the mapping for them as they are digitising records for analysis. it could be that there is a cluster on the 2nd March and then another on another significant date. JMOO

I just found another for the 2nd March Terry McSpadden

There are so many thousands of people go missing every year that sadly there are so many on every single day of the year. We could probably pull out any date and find a large number of people who disappeared on that date. In the case of young men falling in water and drowning, there's a particular cluster around the colder, darker months December, January, February and March. I suppose it's what you'd expect. Much easier to trip and fall into water in the dark or if it's icy, and of course a lot of people drink a lot more around the Christmas and New Year period.

 

[Ellymoo]

I'll see if I can dig out the TV documentary about Lee. As I recall, Kevin gets a brief mention in it too.

There was also quite a good podcast series about Lee's case by Mark Williams Thomas. One of the interesting bits was an interview with a man who said he'd been groomed when he was around 14 for several years afterwards, by a man back in the 1980s who worked in a bike shop opposite where he had a Saturday job in Sutton.The podcast series is called "The Detective" as I recall.

Regarding the phonecall, the police said they'd like to speak to that woman. I don't know if they just want to eliminate her from the inquiry, or if she she said something which tallied with what they knew. It's a really odd thing. She doesn't seem to have made any attempt to get back in touch in the 30 years since 1996. It's really hard without further information to know whether she was a crank or whether she actually knew something. There was a very sad thing in some of the newspaper articles where Kevin's mother said she'd been receiving phone calls at work where the person wouldn't say anything and then hung up, and of course that left her wondering whether it might be Kevin when it was probably crank.

I can't find a podcast series called The Detective - would be grateful if you could clarify the title please. Thanks!

 

[OnlyS]

There are so many thousands of people go missing every year that sadly there are so many on every single day of the year. We could probably pull out any date and find a large number of people who disappeared on that date. In the case of young men falling in water and drowning, there's a particular cluster around the colder, darker months December, January, February and March. I suppose it's what you'd expect. Much easier to trip and fall into water in the dark or if it's icy, and of course a lot of people drink a lot more around the Christmas and New Year period.

Completely agree, there are also other clusters associated with seasonality as you say. If there was a pattern, we wouldn’t necessarily know the basis of the pattern and it may not be as simple as date, but could be based on something that we would perceive to be completely random as we would never have access to all the data in the files. I am looking forward to see what the digitisation and data analysis of files can do to help, particularly in the older cases to help bring closure, but also across the board.

 

[THX]

I can't find a podcast series called The Detective - would be grateful if you could clarify the title please. Thanks!

Here's the Spotify link to episode 1 of the series about Lee Boxell. There are a couple of other series about different cases:

There's also a website for the wider series here:

Posts - The Detective Podcast : Mark Williams-Thomas

www.the-detective.co.uk

 

[TheRockingRev]

JMO - and really JMO from things I have heard and people I know - I do think Kevin was gay. And as others have said, in this era it wasn't unusual for people to hide their sexuality. These simply were not enlightened times. Gay people were bashed, isolated, ostracised and even lost their jobs and loved ones. The offensive slurs that we all know were routinely used on primetime TV and in society. Bear in mind too that it was the era of AIDS and this caused a huge hatred / mistrust of the gay community.
Cottaging and other outdoor homosexual encounters weren't always a kink, more often than not it was the only way for men to have sex with one another. Even two men booking into a hotel room would've been met with suspicion. If you weren't there it's hard to imagine, but it was a horrible time where people had to hide in the shadows.

People say Kevin was groomed, hence the new stereo, but there is the chance and again this is just IMO that he was indulging in sexual activity under his own free will but for money. I know someone who as a young man (in fact from the age of 14) who regularly cruised the public toilets in different parts of London and was paid money for different acts. It was a far more common than you think - and for someone who otherwise wouldn't have been able to experiment with their sexuality, it was a perfect way to do so and make money.

On that night it could've been a very quick thing for Kevin to nip out under the proviso of going to the shop, but in fact to make some money (or even to satisfy some urges - as almost all human beings, particularly teenage boys, have). People say well he would've been gone ages, but actually to do what he had to do wouldn't take long at all.

I know this sounds crass - but this sort of thing did go on. I'm sorry it offends anyone but it's JMO.

I also think if the Police had any thoughts that Kevin may have had a homosexual lifestyle they pretty much wouldn't have been so bothered to investigate. Sadly, and there's so much evidence of this, back then reports of crimes against homosexuals didn't get the same care and attention that other crimes did.

So what did happen? Well again, JMO, but I think he was abducted, Maybe by persons who were homophobic - or perhaps someone who was intent on abusing him (see the horrific crimes of Warwick Spinks to see how young homosexuals could be abducted and abused)

 

[THX]

JMO - and really JMO from things I have heard and people I know - I do think Kevin was gay. And as others have said, in this era it wasn't unusual for people to hide their sexuality. These simply were not enlightened times. Gay people were bashed, isolated, ostracised and even lost their jobs and loved ones. The offensive slurs that we all know were routinely used on primetime TV and in society. Bear in mind too that it was the era of AIDS and this caused a huge hatred / mistrust of the gay community.
Cottaging and other outdoor homosexual encounters weren't always a kink, more often than not it was the only way for men to have sex with one another. Even two men booking into a hotel room would've been met with suspicion. If you weren't there it's hard to imagine, but it was a horrible time where people had to hide in the shadows.

People say Kevin was groomed, hence the new stereo, but there is the chance and again this is just IMO that he was indulging in sexual activity under his own free will but for money. I know someone who as a young man (in fact from the age of 14) who regularly cruised the public toilets in different parts of London and was paid money for different acts. It was a far more common than you think - and for someone who otherwise wouldn't have been able to experiment with their sexuality, it was a perfect way to do so and make money.

On that night it could've been a very quick thing for Kevin to nip out under the proviso of going to the shop, but in fact to make some money (or even to satisfy some urges - as almost all human beings, particularly teenage boys, have). People say well he would've been gone ages, but actually to do what he had to do wouldn't take long at all.

I know this sounds crass - but this sort of thing did go on. I'm sorry it offends anyone but it's JMO.

I also think if the Police had any thoughts that Kevin may have had a homosexual lifestyle they pretty much wouldn't have been so bothered to investigate. Sadly, and there's so much evidence of this, back then reports of crimes against homosexuals didn't get the same care and attention that other crimes did.

So what did happen? Well again, JMO, but I think he was abducted, Maybe by persons who were homophobic - or perhaps someone who was intent on abusing him (see the horrific crimes of Warwick Spinks to see how young homosexuals could be abducted and abused)

That's certainly a possibility and would have been far from unknown back in the 1980s.

If indeed the Police are right in what they say (and they must have some form of evidence to make them think what they do), Kevin's trip to the shop was a ruse to meet someone. That means he wanted to keep something away from his family's attention, for whatever reason. I can only think of a few reasons:

*Something sexual / romantic that he didn't want his family knowing about for whatever reason.

*Drugs

*Meeting someone that his family 'didn't approve of' for whatever reason

*Some other form of illicit or criminal activity. There was a lot of crime in the area (burglaries etc. ) and no doubt a vibrant market in stolen goods. It may also have been fairly innocent such as smoking cigarettes or drinking alcohol in the park, which was a very common thing for teenagers to do back then. If you remember, a lot of teenage lads also used to stash porn magazines in parks and green space back then, away from their family's eyes. It really wasn't unusual to see copies of 'Razzle' etc. stuck in hedges (!) Who knows? Maybe Kevin had had some form of 'stash' in a local park and went to have a look.

In one of the newspaper interviews, Kevin's mother said they had considered whether Kevin might be gay or might be using drugs. They said they discounted both because they felt that if he had been, his sister would have known about it. Of course, that doesn't really rule out either.

There certainly were a number of people in the area with a history of attacking gay people, too. With regard to abduction, I'm not sure I could see him being easily pulled into a car and taken away. He wasn't a small lad, and his sister confirmed that he could 'throw a punch'. It'd probably take an effort and a lot of noise to drag a lad like him into a car and keep him there. The other abduction possibility is that he was lured into the car, possibly by someone that he knew.

In 1999 there was a case of a murder with a 12 year old boy in Norfolk. He had been having sex with a local shopkeeper, who had been giving him money and gifts for it. The shopkeeper murdered the boy when he started to fear that the boy might expose what had been happening. Sadly, that's a scenario that needs to be ruled out in Kevin's case. There's an article bellow about that case, which is sadly written in the awful language that was used for these cases back then.

Boy 'strangled by gay lover after exposure threat'

A village shopkeeper strangled a 12-year-old with whom he had a sexual relationship because he feared the boy would expose him, a court heard yesterday.

www.theguardian.com

The Police also seem to be considering the possibility that something got out of hand and the person who killed Kevin didn't mean to do it. Perhaps it was one of those 'one punch' cases.

 

[BrutishGoose32]

I was also thinking about this and also whether there are concentrations of unsolved crimes with the same date in particular areas. I would have thought that the police are already thinking about this and leveraging AI to do the mapping for them as they are digitising records for analysis. it could be that there is a cluster on the 2nd March and then another on another significant date. JMOO

I just found another for the 2nd March Terry McSpadden

I do think that's a very interesting point, as it's been pointed out, yes people do go missing every day. But, a year before Kevin went missing, Reece Collins left his house for the last time and was later found hanged in a tree in some woods by his father who was out looking for him. You may have already heard about the case, but he lived less than a mile from Kevin, so there may have been some overlap there. He was found with a belt from a jacket around his neck. The death was initially ruled a suicide but the family never believed this, and never got any other answers.

 

[BrutishGoose32]

JMO - and really JMO from things I have heard and people I know - I do think Kevin was gay. And as others have said, in this era it wasn't unusual for people to hide their sexuality. These simply were not enlightened times. Gay people were bashed, isolated, ostracised and even lost their jobs and loved ones. The offensive slurs that we all know were routinely used on primetime TV and in society. Bear in mind too that it was the era of AIDS and this caused a huge hatred / mistrust of the gay community.
Cottaging and other outdoor homosexual encounters weren't always a kink, more often than not it was the only way for men to have sex with one another. Even two men booking into a hotel room would've been met with suspicion. If you weren't there it's hard to imagine, but it was a horrible time where people had to hide in the shadows.

People say Kevin was groomed, hence the new stereo, but there is the chance and again this is just IMO that he was indulging in sexual activity under his own free will but for money. I know someone who as a young man (in fact from the age of 14) who regularly cruised the public toilets in different parts of London and was paid money for different acts. It was a far more common than you think - and for someone who otherwise wouldn't have been able to experiment with their sexuality, it was a perfect way to do so and make money.

On that night it could've been a very quick thing for Kevin to nip out under the proviso of going to the shop, but in fact to make some money (or even to satisfy some urges - as almost all human beings, particularly teenage boys, have). People say well he would've been gone ages, but actually to do what he had to do wouldn't take long at all.

I know this sounds crass - but this sort of thing did go on. I'm sorry it offends anyone but it's JMO.

I also think if the Police had any thoughts that Kevin may have had a homosexual lifestyle they pretty much wouldn't have been so bothered to investigate. Sadly, and there's so much evidence of this, back then reports of crimes against homosexuals didn't get the same care and attention that other crimes did.

So what did happen? Well again, JMO, but I think he was abducted, Maybe by persons who were homophobic - or perhaps someone who was intent on abusing him (see the horrific crimes of Warwick Spinks to see how young homosexuals could be abducted and abused)

I've seen that be said a plenty of times, and I understand why people may feel that way, but I personally don't think Kevin was gay at all. Obviously the attitudes were much different at times, and Croydon was quite a dangerous area, and it has been pointed out a lot of cruising went on in parks and nearby areas, but I don't think Kevin was involved in any of that. There's just no proof, and there never has been, or even anything to remotely suggest it.

It has been said Kevin was groomed, but it was just recently confirmed to me that the speakers were a gift from Kevin's parents. Although multiple things have been stated over the years, and I've seen multiple explanations, such as he bought them himself with his savings, someone bought them for him or gave him money as part of some grooming he was a victim of. (Which could be down to incorrect reporting, or misremembering)

As you said about the ruse of Kevin nipping out to perform sexual favours for money under the guise of buying eggs is, with no disrespect intended, a bit ridiculous. He was 16 years old, essentially still a child and he's often painted as both secretly gay and engaging in secret meetings for gay sex, and now as performing these sex acts for money. None of this has any evidence to support it, not at all, it's borderline victim blaming. Taking a missing child and jumping through a few hoops to paint him as a secret sex worker, it's also very disrespectful to both the victim and his remaining family.

As I've stated before, if he had told his family he'd be gone 5 minutes to buy some eggs, as he intended, presumably he would have had to have only been gone 5 minutes and come home with eggs. If he went out to do anything else, he would still have had to have been home within 5 minutes and come home with the box of eggs. Obviously something horrific must have happened to him along the way.