UK UK - Martin Allen, 15, London England, 1979

[MelmothTheLost]

Martin did not go home as far as we know, the last sighting of him was a 4-45.

No, it appears that he did arrive home around 5pm but stayed only briefly before going out again according to his brother:

On November 5, 1979, Allen was at home making dinner after a day’s work as a goldsmith’s apprentice. Martin came home around 5pm but went straight out again to see their brother, Bob, who lived near Holloway Road, with a bag of baby clothes their mother had knitted for Bob’s son. “He came home to collect a pound, of all things, to take to my sister-in-law. He had bought a red LED digital watch from her catalogue company.”

This information was contained in an article in the London Evening Standard in May last year:

http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle...ears-could-be-linked-to-the-elm-10249285.html

 

[alb1on]

No, it appears that he did arrive home around 5pm but stayed only briefly before going out again according to his brother:



This information was contained in an article in the London Evening Standard in May last year:

http://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle...ears-could-be-linked-to-the-elm-10249285.html

The problem is that this seems to be new to last years report. I can find no report of it in the press at the time. Of course, it could be that the police kept it quiet for investigative reasons but, if that is the case, it is difficult to understand their focus on the Gloucester Rd sighting at the time since it would negate that line of inquiry (or the lack of anyone coming forward with the information in the years since). The only other possibility seems to be that the journalist mistook the conversation with the brother by thinking that what was expected to occur did occur. Only a corroborated statement from the brother can clear this up.

 

[MelmothTheLost]

The problem is that this seems to be new to last years report. I can find no report of it in the press at the time. Of course, it could be that the police kept it quiet for investigative reasons but, if that is the case, it is difficult to understand their focus on the Gloucester Rd sighting at the time since it would negate that line of inquiry (or the lack of anyone coming forward with the information in the years since). The only other possibility seems to be that the journalist mistook the conversation with the brother by thinking that what was expected to occur did occur. Only a corroborated statement from the brother can clear this up.

Or that the brother didn't speak up at the time and then felt unable to speak up to clear up the misunderstanding until very recently.

I agree, this does need clarifying.

 

[Elainera]

Could there have been a misunderstanding regarding the date? Maybe the brother spoke of an earlier day and the reporter misunderstood and thought he spoke of the day Martin disappeared?

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Could there have been a misunderstanding regarding the date? Maybe the brother spoke of an earlier day and the reporter misunderstood and thought he spoke of the day Martin disappeared?

Confusion over the date cannot be ruled out as obviously memory can err, but November 5th is a big date in the British calendar. Bonfire Night. Guy Fawkes Night. At the time we are talking about, many families who had a garden had a small fireworks display on their own property, and for others there were the big public displays held in parks and other public places. 5pm would have been too early for displays to start, but Kevin would have seen and heard planty of bangs and flashes starting an hour or so later, and I would expect this would have stuck in his memory.

These days there are far fewer private fireworks displays but many more public events. The nature of displays has also changed as back in 1979 most small scale fireworks went off at ground level and aerial displays were usually no more than a handful of individual rockets. The extremely loud, multishot aerial batteries have only been available privately since around 2000.

 

[scriptgirl]

Who is Nick?

 

[alb1on]

Who is Nick?

My apologies; I should have explained. In the UK there have been allegations of a VIP paedophile ring operating from the 1970s through to (at least) the 1990s. These allegations are proven in some cases of now dead politicians such as Peter Morrison and require further investigation in cases such as the former Home Secretary Leon Brittan. All of these allegations are now subject to a public judicial inquiry led by Justice Lowell Goddard (brought in from New Zealand as other candidates all seemed to be connected to those accused!). Amongst the reasons for public distrust of normal investigations of these matters is that it has emerged that police were ordered to cease investigations in several cases in the 1980s and 1990s (by who is a key question).

As these allegations emerged into the public domain a person called Nick claimed he was abused by various high ranking individuals in the late 70s/early 80s and he named these people (including Brittan, ex-PM Edward Heath and the then heads of the UK armed forces and security service). As part of these allegations he claimed he saw 3 boys killed, including one who looked like Martin Allen. At the time these allegations looked improbable but they were the subject of an investigation called Operation Midland by the Metropolitan Police. This failed to find any corroboration and information about Nick emerged suggesting he was a dubious source (to say the least). However, a consequence of the implosion of the Nick allegations is that the MSM have used it to belittle all allegations, despite the fact that other cases are supported by both documentary evidence (eg Morrison, Hayman) and confirmation by senior police officers (the Chief Constable of Derbyshire, Chief Inspector Clive Driscoll of the Met) that they were ordered off investigations involving VIPs.

A key question is whether Nick is a fantasist or a plant designed to discredit other allegations by association.

Why may Nick be a plant? One reason is the past role of the UK security services (MI5 and Special Branch). In the mid 1980s allegations about Leon Brittan emerged when he was Home Secretary. They barely made the UK newspapers (and he was not named) but they were headlines in the main Irish paper (I was in Dublin at the time) and were sourced from a book called 'Spycatcher' by an ex-spook called Peter Wright. Publication of the book was suppressed in the UK but went ahead in Australia following a failed attempt to stop it there by court action. It was subsequently alleged that the allegations in Spycatcher were false and part of a black operation by MI5. So........either the allegations are false but the security services were dabbling in politics and libelling a senior politician or the allegations were true and the security services ordered police not to investigate real offences. In either case the security services would have a very strong motive to derail current investigations.

 

[approveds]

The problem is that this seems to be new to last years report. I can find no report of it in the press at the time. Of course, it could be that the police kept it quiet for investigative reasons but, if that is the case, it is difficult to understand their focus on the Gloucester Rd sighting at the time since it would negate that line of inquiry (or the lack of anyone coming forward with the information in the years since). The only other possibility seems to be that the journalist mistook the conversation with the brother by thinking that what was expected to occur did occur. Only a corroborated statement from the brother can clear this up.

No Martin did not get home that night, the £1 he was going to collect was still in the house. He was supposed to be staying with his older brother in Holloway, so no one missed Martin until the following evening

 

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[MelmothTheLost]

No Martin did not get home that night, the £1 he was going to collect was still in the house. He was supposed to be staying with his older brother in Holloway, so no one missed Martin until the following evening

Based on the various maps and clippings you have posted, you seem very invested in this case. Are you connected to it in any way?

How and why do you discount Martin's brother's recent statement that Martin made it home that afternoon?