Deceased/Not Found UK - Steven Clark, 23, disabled, Saltburn, Dec 1992

[fridaybaker]

It’s been a while since I’ve read much here, butI’ve always been suspicious about those close to him. Nothing concrete, but things like the statistics that “stranger danger” is much less common than “known” danger; the fact that he was an adult vs. a child; that he was in conflict with family immediately before his disappearance; the behavior of folks afterward; the letter sent years later. I’ve also thought it odd that the mother wouldn’t wait for him or check the restroom for him.

I do think that there’s a chance that something happened in the “stranger danger category in the short time frame that we’re talking about (or that he could have walked off on his own and come to some harm) but I think it’s not as probable. Something like a someone approaching him and offering a ride.

 

[Andieinsyd]

It’s been a while since I’ve read much here, butI’ve always been suspicious about those close to him. Nothing concrete, but things like the statistics that “stranger danger” is much less common than “known” danger; the fact that he was an adult vs. a child; that he was in conflict with family immediately before his disappearance; the behavior of folks afterward; the letter sent years later. I’ve also thought it odd that the mother wouldn’t wait for him or check the restroom for him.

I do think that there’s a chance that something happened in the “stranger danger category in the short time frame that we’re talking about (or that he could have walked off on his own and come to some harm) but I think it’s not as probable. Something like a someone approaching him and offering a ride.

Agree that there just doesn’t seem to be a lot of motive for someone who didn’t know Steven to murder him that day while he was out. Always a chance he met up with someone and left to start a new life but again not so likely.

 

[CrackerC119]

A mere observation, Damien Nettles, also missing from a coastal resort in the 1990s was multi national, born in Singapore, spent formative years in America and then moved to the UK. It's amazing how cases often have similarities.

 

[AcbMurders]

A long shot, but Steven’s case sprang to mind when I read about this Horror as bones discovered in sand on UK beach are confirmed to be human

 

[branmuffin]

https://www.cleveland.police.uk/police-forces/cleveland-police/areas/cleveland-police/campaigns/campaigns/2021/disappearance-of-steven-clark/about-steven/

Just to note, his parents certainly moved around a lot.
Steven was born in Essex, then moved to a Scotland, then to Cambridgeshire, then to South Africa, then they moved back to the UK and lived in Surrey, then moved to Marske.

That's a lot of moving between north and south, then emigration, then back to the south, then up to north again. It's quite mad. They obviously didn't stay in their jobs very long, nor settle down much.

Just an observation. Nothing more.

But leads me to think Steven probably had very few childhood friends.

I moved a lot when I was young. I was born in England in Bradford. My parents moved us to the northwest coast of England not far from where Steven lived, actually. We'd go to Saltburn and Redcar and Seaton Carew for holidays.

Then we moved to Canada and my mom hated it. She got eaten alive by mosquitos, she couldn't take the humid summer heat and she missed her mother and felt guilty leaving, being an only child. She dragged us kids to England and back until she realized my dad wasn't going back to England, that he was quite happy with his new life; that her mom was stubborn about staying put so we all moved back permanently. However, it disrupted my school life and my sister's. My oldest sister refused to come back to Canada and lived with my grandparents and only ever came back to Canada as a visitor. By the time I graduated from college I'd gone to 13 schools.

I would think this type of thing, the moving, is very common, especially among military families. My parents weren't in the military but my dad had a very marketable skill and could have lived anywhere. Maybe the parents had been in the military or at least been LE while in SA. They are definitely transferable skills.

As a child, when you have no agency, you develop a thick skin always being the new kid in school, especially mid-year where you can't blend in with other newbies. I always found it humiliating being assigned a kid to be my friend, since usually it was someone who wanted to take advantage of you! I can imagine that Steven may have also disliked being the focus and under the scrutiny of his new classmates and being disabled may have made him the target of bullies.

 

[branmuffin]

His sister also mentions that the parents are in the process of taking legal action against the police for the way they were treated as well in 2020, so expect them in the news at some point.

This case is very frustrating, reminds me of Jason Jolkowski’s case in some ways.

I know the parents were hassled and examined to the max, but there’s something so off about them and their story changes slightly in different interviews. I feel they do blame Steven for his own disappearance.

Given how much work was done by the police in 2020 and his sister discussing how they spent so much money on special school, hosptial appointments, specialists, and moving from SA back to UK so he could try find work - I don’t feel the parents did it. They are definitely stern and autocratic, deprived of emotion, but I think something would of cracked by now if they were involved.

I don’t think he was involved in an accident - he had walked along the area where he went missing hundreds of times with his sister or mother to exercise his leg according to his sister. He would’ve known the area well.

The only real explanation I feel is he walked off to try meet someone before his mam came out of the toilets. Then entered their car or house and came to harm.

Was everyone in the pub spoken to? Was his girlfriend, who he drank with, aware of any tensions between him and anyone in the pub?

His parents may seem a little lacking in the compassion department but I think it's natural considering they've been the target of police investigations for nearly 30 years and have never been charged with anything. They kind of remind me of a couple I knew who were parents of friends who always seemed so abrupt and never showed any warmth to you but I think it was a cultural thing. English was not their first language. They were Dutch and spoke English in a very formal way. Even my sister's husband, also Dutch, always sounded abrupt when speaking to you.

I personally think that Steven was given wide berth in terms of what his parents did trying to integrate him into a new environment to the point they catered to his demands. He was miserly with his own money and expected his parents to pay for things even though he was of an age where he'd be expected to shell out his own cash. I think he got in an argument with his parents and stormed off. A scenario that probably happened fairly frequently and he left home, alone. When he didn't come back his mom went looking for him and so they wouldn't be painted as the uncaring parents of a disabled adult they concocted the story of them leaving together. It didn't do any good since a whole swath of people internationally consider them the prime suspects.

When I look at the currents of the North Sea in that part of northern England I think it's quite possible that the bones just found in Seaburn, just north of Saltburn where Steven was last seen, could be his remains. He may have been caught on the sands at high tide because he was stewing about stuff and didn't notice until it was too late. The tides in that part of England are incredible insofar that when the tide is out the sands stretch forever. It can seem like the water is miles away and because the beach is craggy with curving rock outcroppings you can't tell what you're going to come across like some tide pools already filling up so you turn around and find the same thing behind you and you are screwed.

Link: Marine Regions photogallery

 

[annpats]

The tides in that part of England are incredible insofar that when the tide is out the sands stretch forever.
Link: Marine Regions photogallery

Absolutely, and he went missing in December, so the temperature of the north sea would be painfully cold, probably about 7°C or so. Not to mention any winter murk or fog in the air, reducing visibility.

 

[annpats]

Sea temperature in Redcar this December just gone (2023) was an average of 8°C.
If he was in the water, he would only have survived a few minutes. Cold water shock and panic would've taken over, even if he could swim.

Redcar Sea Temperature | December Average | United Kingdom | Sea Temperatures

Redcar, United Kingdom December average sea temperature. Marine / ocean climate data updated daily, surface sea temperatures and recorded in degrees centigrade and farenheit.

www.seatemperature.org

 

[Spy Versus Spy]

BBC News - Identifying bones found on Sunderland beaches 'could take years' - BBC News

Identifying bones found on Sunderland beaches 'could take years'

Police are investigating after suspected human remains were found on a stretch of Sunderland coast.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[branmuffin]

I'm getting the impression that the bones that have washed up on the eastern shores may belong to more than one person. The North Sea can be a violent environment to be caught in during a storm. Numerous vessels go missing during storms only to be found drifting minus their crew so it's possible these bones belong to any number of crew members over the years. There is one instance where a Scottish trawler was found minus the crew. They were lost of the east coast of the Shetland Islands. When you look at the currents of the North Sea in a link I showed in a previous post in the area of the Shetland Islands it's possible that the remains could be from this trawler. A long shot the remains belong to Steven, I know, but identification of the bones will be an answer for some grieving relatives.

Marine Regions photogallery

Six Scottish fishermen feared lost in North Sea - UPI Archives

Six fishermen aboard a boat that capsized in the storm-driven North Sea were feared dead after a nine-hour air-and-sea search Wednesday that found no...

www.upi.com

 

[ZaZara]

Bones washed up on the beaches of Roker and Saltburn have been identified. They belong to a man who disappeared in January of this year.

Remains found on Sunderland beaches confirmed as missing man

 

[crazychris]

It she had sat on the wall for a while ,why did she not ask the men to check on Steven?
2 men and a little girl sounds better than just 2 men going into the loos!! So that is why I think she included a little girl into her new story .
If the little girl needed the loo,would not one of the men have asked Doris to take her into the ladies? If it was one of the men,would they not have taken it in turns to visit whilst one waited outside with the little girl?

If she made the walk story up maybe the men with the little girl didn't even exist.

 

[Inspector Evans]

Nothing to add apart from the documentary has re-aired on ITV tonight, nearly four years after the first showing in April 2021.

One thing I missed at the time was Charles Clark admitting on camera he did grab Steven one night after he came back from the pub and he said this was a few months before the disappearance.

Interesting watching the footage of him slowly getting up and going to the stage to collect his apprentice award from Andrew Neil. Dosen't indicate to me someone who could briskly walk back to his home from the toilets really.

I've always thought accidental death here tbh and then body hidden and then disposed of close by and with the refresher of the programme nothing has changed my mind.

Both parents I think are still alive and they're now both mid 80s (Doris Clark 86 now) so perhaps the sister will feature a little more in any anniversary appeals when they're both no longer around.

Essentially this is a very cold case now after all the activity in 2020.

 

[fridaybaker]

I think you are likely correct, Inspector Evans. Very sad.

 

[ctaylor]

Two sightings, seen with older man a few days after 28th Dec and another walking towards Redcar town centre in Jan 1993.

Second sighting, man who saw him is no longer alive and changed his account in 1999 from going up and talking to Steven (didn't realise at that stage he was registered missing) to seeing him from the back from distance of 50 yards.

Just going through this thread and couldn't really remember much media coverage about it until the parents were arrested. Checked on newspapers archive and found this article from The Northern Echo from 23 October 1993. It states here a man who often drank with Steven at the same club saw him a few days after he went missing. It says he saw him but was surprised Steven did not come over to speak to him. I take it this is the same man who changed his account in 1999?

This article also says 181 people phoned up after Steven was featured on a television programme in September 1993 to say they saw someone like him in various areas including Guildford where the family had previously lived. Given he had a noticeable issue with his arm and a limp when walking, that seems like a high number of sightings. Very baffling case.

 

[Lucy6226]

The toilet story just doesn't make sense imo. Unless he pegged it down the prom, which I doubt, mum would have seen him walking away.

 

[crazychris]

This is something I really want to know, 'how' the police came to the conclusion of murder. This cannot of been an easy step to take without evidence, so what is the evidence? And what was in that letter?

Can they come to a conclusion of murder based on no proof of life since then. ie no later sightings, benefits claimed, no new bank account opened, hospital admissions etc etc?

 

[Sillybilly]

ADMIN NOTE:

Numerous posts speculating on the parents have been removed as not being victim friendly.

As per Websleuths Terms of Service (aka The Rules), one of THE most fundamental principles on which Websleuths is based is that we are VICTIM FRIENDLY.

If members can't follow this very basic principle, they shouldn't be posting here.

Sillybilly
WS Administrator

 

[Corina]

The toilet story just doesn't make sense imo. Unless he pegged it down the prom, which I doubt, mum would have seen him walking away.

- what does "pegged it down the prom" mean, please?

 

[Lucy6226]

- what does "pegged it down the prom" mean, please?

Means ran fast down the seafront. The seafront is wide and open so he would have had to run fast to be out of sight.