UK UK - Marie Garrity, 30, Hillfields, Coventry, September 1995

[Al Ka]

(apologies for language used in this article)

25 SEP 2002 - Mystery of missing prostitute

The stepfather of a missing Coventry prostitute has made a fresh appeal for help to find her, seven years after she disappeared.

Marie Garrity has not been seen since she walked out of her home in Bretts Close, Hillfields, in September 1995, aged 30, leaving her three young children with a baby-sitter.

Her stepdad, Alan Smith, is clinging onto the hope someone knows of her whereabouts and is urging people to come forward.

Speaking exclusively to the Evening Telegraph, he said: We don't know whether she's dead or alive.

"It's been on my mind all the while and you keep hearing of women's bodies being found so it keeps reminding you. I think someone knows something and I hope this will bring it all home again."

Marie went missing from her home after telling the baby-sitter that she would return home shortly, possibly after visiting a client.

Local and national appeals to try to find her have so far drawn a blank.

Marie's three children are being looked after by her sister in Wiltshire.

Mr Smith, aged 62, of Melbourne Road, Earlsdon, said: "She might have got into bad company but she was a good mother to her kids.

"The police contacted me about two years ago to say her case was still open and I would appeal to anyone who knows anything to contact them."

A West Midlands Police spokesman said there had been no sighting of, or contact with, Marie since her disappearance, but confirmed that her case remains open.

He said: "We remain hopeful that one day Marie will get in touch or that we or her family will be able to get in contact with her."

Anyone with information about Marie's disappearance should phone Little Park Street police station on 024 7653 9010.

Mystery of missing prostitute

 

[Al Ka]

Mum of three Marie Garrity hasn't been seen since she left her home in Hillfields in 1995. The prostitute may have been visiting a client. Like Barbara Finn it's been suggested she may have been murdered by a serial killer.

Coventry's missing people

 

[Al Ka]

March 2000 - Grim theory as killer gets life; 'City women may have been victims'.

POLICE believe the killer of two prostitutes could be responsible for attacks against women in Coventry and Warwickshire.

Former Stafford motor mechanic Alun Kyte was yesterday jailed for life for strangling the women and dumping their bodies a few miles north of Rugby. He is also currently serving a sentence for rape.

Detectives are convinced the 35-year-old drifter is a serial attacker who targeted women and have released his photograph and a tape of his voice to jog memories of victims or people with whom he may have had dealings.

Two Coventry women have disappeared in recent years while Kyte was on the prowl. Their whereabouts have never been discovered.

Barbara Finn was last seen in October 1991 after leaving her daughter with relatives to ply for trade on her Hillfields patch.

Mother-of-three Marie Garrity went missing from her home in Bretts Close, Hillfields in September 1995. She told a baby-sitter looking after her three children that she would return home shortly, possibly after visiting a client. A spokesman said the two were still being treated as missing persons, adding: "The files on both these cases remain open."

A judge at Nottingham Crown Court yesterday jailed Kyte for the murders of Samo Paull and Tracey Turner in 1993. He was caught when DNA tests linked him to Ms Turner.

Leicestershire assistant chief constable David Colman said: "Alun Kyte is an evil man who has travelled the length and breadth of Great Britain committing crimes.

"I do not believe that we have uncovered the full extent of his criminality and, in particular, there is every reason to believe he may have been responsible for other serious attacks on women."

Kyte began drifting around the country, stealing cars and staying in cheap hotels and lodging-houses, after falling out with his family in 1991.

Police want to hear from women who were attacked before to December 28 1997 and did not report it to police, any owners of lodging houses or hotels who recognise the man, and anyone who thinks they may have bought or sold a vehicle from him.

Grim theory as killer gets life; 'City women may have been victims'. - Free Online Library

 

[Al Ka]

June 7, 2002 - Murder hunt police dig garden in red light area

Police and forensic experts were digging up the garden of a house in the West Midlands last night in what was believed to be a search for human remains.

A spokesman said a major incident was under way in Hillfields, Coventry.

Two prostitutes disappeared in the area, which is known for vice and drugs, more than ten years ago.

Barbara Finn and Marie Garrity went missing during the 1990s and no trace of them has been found.

But a police spokesman last night would not speculate about the reason behind the search in the garden of a house in Winchester Street.

West Midlands Police officers along with forensic experts and Prof John Hunter, a forensic archaeologist from Birmingham University were at the address where a large tent had been erected in the garden.

Murder hunt police dig garden in red light area.(News) - The Birmingham Post (England) | HighBeam Research

 

[Al Ka]

Link to Barbara Finn thread - UK - UK - Barbara Finn, 31, Hillfields, Coventry, October 1991

 

[CastlesBurning]

Bumping for Marie...this month is 25 years.

 

[elframo]

Marie has now been missing for 29 years..