News article just came out which answers lots of questions previously asked here on this thread. It has also much more information than I have seen before about the circumstances.
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The ex-boyfriend of a young mother who vanished in 2003 on her way to the shops leaving her 11-week-old baby behind today denied killing her at an inquest.
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On the day she disappeared, she had just been dropped off at home by her new boyfriend Chris Millard having broken up with the father of her son, Kevin McCallum, weeks earlier.
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Mr McCallum (ex) was quizzed by police on several occasions and arrested on suspicion of murder in March 2004 before being released without charge.
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He told the inquest how he met Natalie at a training course in the summer of 2002.
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'We didn't make any plans for the future - the baby was born in June. When the baby was born I stayed over at hers a few times to do some nappy changes and feeds.
'I didn't know what their relationship was between Natalie and Chris (new bf). When she started to see him we were on a break.
'I wasn't too happy, I wanted to know who this man was spending time with my son. She felt she needed some space, time on her own.
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Describing the day she disappeared, Mr McCallum (ex) said: 'We went upstairs to talk about the relationship. We were smoking at the time.
'Then she said she was going to get some more cigarettes. I didn't see her leave the front door. I went back to feeding the baby. It had taken 45 minutes to feed him and then I went down stairs. Later that evening I saw her phone was on the side.'
The inquest heard a taxi driver told police he had been called to the house and a man came out carrying a baby and holding four or five black bin bags.
During the police investigation, bin bags were recovered from the loft as well as a blood-stained T-shirt which matched Natalie's DNA.
Mr McCallum denied putting bags in the taxi. He told the inquest: 'I never said I didn't get a taxi, I'm saying the taxi driver is a liar. I want to make sure the truth comes out. I didn't put anything into the taxi.
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Mr Millard (her new bf), 32, told the hearing he had dropped Natalie off at her home on the day she disappeared in a car he changed a week later.
He said: 'In 2003 I was living with my nan. I was about 17-years-old. I met Natalie through the horses and I think her dad had a horse off me.
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She was with me on that Sunday night -August 31, 2003. The baby was with us too.
'On the day she went missing I dropped her off at home in the morning about 8am and Kevin was waiting for her at the house.
Ex-boyfriend of young mother, 17, who vanished in 2003 denies murder | Daily Mail Online
So Natalie disappeared after she and her newly born spend night with her new bf. Bf brought her to her home in the morning where her ex was waiting for her...
For some reason I do not think she ever went to any shop... Her ex was last person to see her and bloody shirt with her DNA was found hidden in the loft... Body or not, I am surprised he was not locked up long ago.