UK UK - Ruth Wilson, 16, Dorking, 27 Nov 1995

[Konstantin]

Missing : MacKenney, Shelley: Amazon.co.uk: Books

Missing : MacKenney, Shelley: Amazon.co.uk: Books

www.amazon.co.uk

That's the autobiography of the young woman who ran away and lived anonymously for years. However, Shelley wasn't reported missing to the police so she used her NI number and her family did manage to find her a couple of times. It's worth a read because it shows just how vulnerable she was. And Shelley was older and far more streetwise than Ruth.

 

[davidt]

One thing I wonder about is if her friend Catherine knows more than she's letting on. I have no evidence for that at all. Just when I've seen her interviewed I have a feeling she's bring a bit coy about everything. Also that apparently when interviewed by the police six months after Ruth's disappearance they broke off from questioning her to search her wardrobe. Nothing more than a feeling I have really.

 

[Konstantin]

One thing I wonder about is if her friend Catherine knows more than she's letting on. I have no evidence for that at all. Just when I've seen her interviewed I have a feeling she's bring a bit coy about everything. Also that apparently when interviewed by the police six months after Ruth's disappearance they broke off from questioning her to search her wardrobe. Nothing more than a feeling I have really.

Maybe so and I wondered that too but what the game plan? If she knows more about RW running away, but doesn't know what happened subsequently and whether RW is safe, why not tell the police who can then investigate properly. RW's safety trumps any misguided loyalty and she was a kid at the time so not aware of the potential consequences of running away.

I think she might know more about the situation in RWs life before she ran away, and what RW was telling her about her mum and dad. Maybe she felt compelled to speak out. It must be awful for her to live with the ambiguous loss of her friend.

I wondered more if her other friends knew something more. The one the journalist contacted in the documentary, for example. RW had run away before to his house so he knew there were problems at home.

 

[davidt]

I winder if one day the po,ice will release the farewell letters. I know at various times they've been variously described as farewell or suicide letters. I just wonder if they were explicit in terms of ending her life or something more ambiguous.

 

[Rikissa]

Maybe so and I wondered that too but what the game plan? If she knows more about RW running away, but doesn't know what happened subsequently and whether RW is safe, why not tell the police who can then investigate properly. RW's safety trumps any misguided loyalty and she was a kid at the time so not aware of the potential consequences of running away.

I think she might know more about the situation in RWs life before she ran away, and what RW was telling her about her mum and dad. Maybe she felt compelled to speak out. It must be awful for her to live with the ambiguous loss of her friend.

I wondered more if her other friends knew something more. The one the journalist contacted in the documentary, for example. RW had run away before to his house so he knew there were problems at home.

Or she knows where Ruth is, and that she's fine, and that Ruth doesn't want to be "found". If Ruth is alive with a new name, and perhaps a family, and friends, that don't know anything about her past, she might not want the British tabloid press to hound her for an 'exclusive interview'. Even if the police promise to not reveal her identity, there's absolutely no chance that the tabloids won't find her, that has been done in other cases in the UK.