Vanished after going out on his Bike | Cold Case UK [2023]

Seven-year-old boy Daniel Entwistle went on his bike to play in the Norfolk town of Great Yarmouth. He was never seen again.

The last known images of Daniel Entwistle are from grainy CCTV footage of him walking around a shop.

It was a bank holiday Saturday and the youngster had been sent on an errand by his parents. It is understood he returned home and asked whether he could play out on his bike.

His father David told the BBC, before his death in 2015, he allowed Daniel to go out but told him not to go too far away from home.

His red BMX bicycle was found abandoned near Trinity Quay in the early hours of the following morning. Daniel has never been found.

Norfolk Police says the case remains open. Will it ever be solved?

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– [Donal] May 3rd, 2003 in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, families were making the most of the bank holiday weekend in this seaside town. – Whenever there are all kind of indices to represent deprivation in the UK. Yarmouth always figures very very highly. It’s often in the top 10.

– [Donal] Two boys played in their garden. Later that day, their dad would send one of them on an errand to the local shop. – He was on CCTV in a shop. Then he disappears. And his bike is found back at the river. – It’s every parent’s worst nightmare, isn’t it? To think that a child can simply disappear. – [Donal] Within hours. The little boy had vanished and no trace of him has ever been seen since.

– There were certainly pedophiles resident in the vicinity of the school. – It’s estimated that 140,000 children go missing in the UK every year. Of that staggering number most are simply runaways escaping lives of abuse, neglect, and unhappiness. The majority of these cases are solved within the first 48 hours.

With the children either being found or returning home. But what of the children who don’t return and the families who never stopped searching. I’m criminologist Donal MacIntyre, and I’ve brought together an unrivaled team of specialist investigators. We work with the original detectives to re-examine and hopefully bring to light some new information.

And bring some closure to the friends and families of the victims of some of the most shocking and impenetrable cold cases. – The atmosphere in the school was I think, shock after shock. And this little boy he had literally disappeared. – Probably the biggest story that’s happened here in the 14 years I’ve been in Great Yarmouth. – On this program the disappearance of seven year old Daniel Entwistle,

Who vanished without a trace one summer’s day. We map his final movements as we track this perplexing mystery. We talk to those who last saw him. The detectives who’ve been on the case for the last decade. And our panel reevaluates all the evidence in an effort to discover what happened to Daniel Entwistle. Daniel Entwistle vanished on May 3rd, 2003. He has never been found. – At the time I was the Eastern Daily Press Chief Reporter for Yarmouth. But I was actually on holiday with my family in Tunisia at the time Daniel went missing.

And the first I heard of it was when we turned on Sky TV in the hotel, and we saw the detectives outside Yarmouth police station. And obviously, I was very curious as to what it was all about. – After 12 years with no answers or solid leads.

My co-case team are stepping in in an effort to help the authorities with this difficult case. By reexamining old evidence, speaking to witnesses and collaborating with key investigators we’re hoping to bring new information to light. We’ve assembled a team of some of the most skilled investigators, criminologists and forensic scientists working today.

They’ve aided countless cases through the years and are here to lend their expertise in an effort to solve this case once and for all. Clive Driscoll is a former detective chief inspector with Scotland Yard. He has had many noted investigations over the course of his 40 year career. He has seen many cases

Like this one and understands its complexity. In addition, we’ve enlisted the help of noted crime journalists, Nicola Tallant. Nicola has written on many high profile cases in the course of her career and has a detailed knowledge of this case. – You have a population which moves

Because people come stay on holiday and go home. – If kids had taunted him to get up on the wall one of them would have broken down at home. – The bike was there. But whether or not you can use that as a fair barometer, for where he was.

I’ve never been too sure on that. – [Donal] Daniel was the middle child of Paula and David Entwistle. They lived on the Barrack estate here in Great Yarmouth a coastal town, 20 miles East of Norwich. – When I was placed at what was then called Greenacre school. The Great Yarmouth area

Was a very challenged area. There was a high degree of social need. A high degree of unemployment. A high degree of criminal activity. And it would have reached the sort of lowest percentile of any criteria you placed on it, as a term. – There was a transient population

Because of the industries that are built up there. So you’ve got oil and gas. Which means on the one hand there’s a lot of wealth in Yarmouth. Because people are coming in working for big industries. But then they’re going out again. There was also a sense of quite low paid, low skilled workforce.

And historically it’s always been described as a bit of a frontier town in a sense. Because you’ve had sort of people coming and going. So it kind of can be a bit sort of rough around the edges in that sense. Like a lot of English coastal towns are.

– It’s a very very tough place. There is very little money there. There’s a lot of teenage pregnancy. There’s a lot of social issues going on there. So the Barrack estate, not only would have been a tough estate, but it’s in a very very tough place.

– But I’ve discovered there’s another dark side to this deprived seaside town. Great Yarmouth being a seaside resort was a magnet of sort for sex offenders. – You have a population which moves because people come, stay on holiday and go home. You have young people hanging around arcades.

There’s lots of arcades in Great Yarmouth. I’ll use this thing that if people will put their self in a position to offend. So going somewhere where there are a large group of children may be out on their own that are in arcades. Which are known places where people

Who have sexual predators go to. Yeah it was an area which he would have been in danger. – Daniel was a bright young boy who was often seen around the town with other children. He attended Greenacre first in middle school, just a stone throw from his home.

– I’ve spoken to the teachers at Daniel’s school. And he was for their part a normal little seven year old. He was very much part of the school family. – I always got the impression that he was a happy boy at home. Loved his mum, typically close to his mum.

And when you saw him with his mum at school they appeared close. It appeared there was a good physical proximity. They worked closely together when they were playing games together. And you always got the impression that he was quite a happy boy. In terms of home.

– [Donal] But the truth appears to be quite the opposite of the impression being made at school. – The rumor at the time amongst the journalists covering the case quite quickly was that Daniel Entwistle was either on the at-risk register or at least was in it was on the radar of social services.

– [Donal] Behind the doors of this quiet family house where things all they should have been for this seven-year-old. – Always played in his garden with him and stuff like that. Obviously when his mom used to ask me to look after him. But my mum was his dinner lady.

So obviously here, he used to come pass mine. He’d be on the beach on his own come pass mine with a bucket full of sand. And then he’ll speak to my mum. He used to always tell my mum stuff and how it’s been at home with his parents and stuff like that.

And that’s not something a child should say really. – [Donal] So he was a trouble kid a vulnerable kid? – Mm-hmm. – [Donal] It’s become clear to me early in this investigation that Daniel wasn’t just in danger because of where he lived or from the predatory people in and around the town.

He was just as vulnerable in the place he should have been safest, his own home. – He seemed to have a lot of freedom for a seven year old. A lot of seven year olds play in the street. He was in an area which sadly has a history of pedophiles.

Really, there is a history in that area. He was in an area of danger, no doubt about that. – Daniel was a bit of a loner. And maybe sometimes left to his own devices a bit. Roaming around playing outside. But not untypical of a lot of other children, probably in the neighborhood.

– He was always on his own. He used to go to the beach and sit on the beach for a good two hours, three hours, maybe after school. He’d always be on the beach. Every time I used to walk my mom’s dog. He would be sitting there. – [Donal] But it’s also clear

That Daniel wasn’t just lonely. He was the victim of other kids. – Bullied all the time all the time. And there weren’t a day… That he was always in school. – It’s a Lord of the flies, I think. Sort of situation out there where children are making up their own rules,

And live in their own culture. – I think we probably built up a picture that he was not untypical of the sort of children that live in that part of town. – And Daniel Entwistle. I’ve seen the picture of a boy very much at risk.

A child left to fend for himself in a town where danger was all around. While the school appeared to be a refuge of sorts, his home life was not all it should have been. Daniel’s situation was hugely vulnerable. And on that fateful day, some person or persons took advantage. Coming up.

Daniel’s last moment caught on CCTV. Did he drown or did something much more sinister happen to him. Seven year old Daniel Entwistle vanished on the afternoon of a bank holiday Sunday, in the town of Great Yarmouth. Despite intensive investigations no trace of his whereabouts has ever emerged. On this program.

We hope to gain a better understanding of what happened to Daniel Entwistle. By revisiting the places he was last seen. And by reconnecting with the original investigators assigned to the case. In the early stages of re-examining this case. I’ve discovered that Daniel was incredibly for a boy of just seven years of age

Left to his own devices a great deal of the time. He was also bullied by other kids and left to roam around on his own. But the area he was wandering around was anything but safe. Because of reports of strange men hanging around the school grounds.

People had been on alert in the area. Is it possible that Daniel might’ve been noticed by a predator. Parents of students attending the Greenacre School here were warned about strange men hanging around the place. It’s understood that a number of sex offenders lived nearby. And naturally parents exercise a great deal of caution

About the whereabouts of their kids. – There was certainly a feeling that, and probably this was accurate that there were certainly pedophiles resident in the vicinity of the school. And therefore this message that the school used to put across was that strangers were not always demon looking with horns as it were.

But they were ordinary people who we didn’t know. And that was the clearest definition of stranger that we knew. They were people that we didn’t know. And that was put forward to children many many times. And layered and layered and layered so that you’d hope they would take it on.

– Daniel’s father David worked as a railway man. His mother Paula suffered with epilepsy. And was frequently unwell. In fact, she was bedridden the day Daniel went missing. It’s become evident with the passing of time that no one was really watching Daniel that Sunday afternoon. The day of Daniel’s disappearance

Had been largely unremarkable. Paula remembers him playing with some toys alongside his brother. – One of the sightings of him… And there was neighborhood watch guy who said that, he saw him slightly away from a group of other children. And that suggests perhaps he wasn’t happy and that something happened, with those kids. – [Donal] Around Five o’clock David Entwistle

Gave Daniel the money to go to the local shop, to buy some milk for his younger brother. What happened next remain shrouded in mystery. – Daniel actually went to the shop over the corner there. I went to go and get I don’t know some milk. Obviously he never returned.

– Daniel came to this shop to pick up a bottle for his baby brother, John. According to his father, David returned with the bottle and then went out to play. That was the last time he ever saw his son. CCTV footage confirms that Daniel was at Blanco’s Shop.

– Quite a big thing for a seven year old to do. To be able to leave their own home and go down to the shop with some money, bring it back. I think there were a lot of children kind of hanging around and being away from their parents on the estate.

So I think even young children, even as young as seven like Daniel, they would have been not indoors but very much kind of just loitering around the area. Even though when there was at such a young age. – Later that evening, Daniel’s red BMX would be found here

On the banks of the River Yare. It will be the only piece of physical evidence found. Eye witnesses reported seeing him in the company of other kids playing around the area before his disappearance. But what happened after they left the scene?

– If you go to any park in any part of Britain or Ireland. You’ll find bikes stolen all over the place and the kids miles away playing. So the bike was there. But whether or not you can use that as a fair barometer for where he was.

I’ll never been too sure on that from investigations I’ve done. But it’s a starting point but I don’t know if I would rely on that. – [Donal] With a tidal river on one side and the coast on the other Great Yarmouth can be a dangerous place for a young child.

Was this a case of tragic misadventure? Was this a childish prank which went horribly wrong? – And Yarmouth’s prosperity essentially was built on the River Yare, because you had the inland port and you can still go down there and see some of the ships where their docked.

So it was an important river for the town. And the sort of source of the economy. But also, I guess it was a bit of a a place bought for the children. And I guess people maybe didn’t think about some of the dangers there. Because kids could have easy access to the river.

One of the things that I did think about when I went down to look. Was well were the tide strong enough to simply sweep someone away. I do remember asking that or thinking that question. And not really being that convinced by the answer. – If Daniel did fall into the river,

How come no one saw or heard anything? Surely he must’ve screamed out for help? How could a young boy vanish so abruptly? When it was realized that Daniel was nowhere to be found the river was the first obvious area of concern. – We knew that some CCTV footage had been found

At the news agents. And I kind of thought, well, where was the gap between the news agents and where the bike was found? So I went down the road near the cut-through at the river where his bike was left. And there was a petrol garage there.

And I was looking to see if there were CCTV cameras there as well. Because I thought, well, if they were, they may have seen either him or where he was moving. Or maybe somebody else who was coming by. Because there were lots of lorries coming through sort of because

Of the oil and gas industry. So lots of deliveries are being made. It just occurred to me had somebody stopped. Had they seen him, they picked him up. So it was just kind of trying to make sense of what had happened. I think I went in and asked actually,

And spoke to the people in the garage and said, “Look, did anybody see anything?” They hadn’t but what they’d said was they were just shocked as everybody else. I think it was also one of the questions I asked the police as well. To say, “Look well, did anything get picked up?”

And from them though it was inconclusive in that sense. So it made me say, well, it seemed a bit odd that nobody had seen him coming out. So what happened? – [Donal] But it quickly emerged that Daniel was unlikely to have gone to close to the river.

– Like a lot of children growing up in areas which are surrounded by water. And Daniel actually couldn’t swim. And of course he was only seven. – This young man was known to have a fear of the water. So had he done something stupid

It would have been out of bravado with his friends. They would have been witnesses to him falling in the river. – In a sense, it seems unusual or unlikely for him to sort of be of his own volition, going down to the water’s edge, down to the seawall. And clearly an area

That holds the danger in terms of water. – For me if the boy simply falls into the water, I would have expected his body to have been recovered. Bodies can be washed out to sea small bodies in particular. But there’s usually some trace found eventually. – [Donal] With drowning appearing to me

To be more and more unlikely. I’m now back to what happened after Daniel visited the shop. – The last sighting of Daniel was in Blanco’s the local shop. And after that, he’s gone. All we have left is his bicycle. – There’s two things here. Either he fell into the river by accident

Or he somehow was a victim of something much more pernicious, snatched, abducted, or taken away. What do you think happened here, Clive? – I’ve always felt that he was taken. I know the bike was found near the water and I believe he was seen. Everybody that was interviewed

Said that he had this real fear of water. It wasn’t something he would have been rushing to get near. He seemed to have a fear of the sea. And in particular that river, it’s a fast running river. So I always felt that that was more unlikely

Than it was likely that he was taken by somebody. But you couldn’t rule that out. That it was just a tragic accident. – Walking near that wall, this is a kind of Rite of passage for little kids. He was afraid of the water. Was there a sense that… Is it possible that he

In the absence of any other observers would have tried to negotiate this for himself? – I think that if that had happened, the chances of his body being discovered would have been… I think his body would have probably been discovered in the river. And maybe if kids had taunted him to get up

On the wall. One of them would have broken down at home and said what had happened. – So far as I’m concerned the very real possibility is that Daniel was the victim of something far more sinister than an accident around the river on the afternoon he disappeared.

But what happened and who was involved? Coming up. What kind of people was Daniel in contact with? Was he the victim of Pedophiles in this seaside town? Seven year old Daniel Entwistle vanished without trace from his home in Great Yarmouth on a bank holiday Sunday afternoon. He has never been seen since. On this program, I’ve been re-investigating, this disturbing disappearance. My cold case team has established that Daniel was afraid of the water and couldn’t swim.

Making it a remote possibility that he was a victim of a prank or simply fell into the river. What is apparent though is that his life was far from normal and that he was a victim of bullying and neglect. He was also allowed too much freedom for a boy of his age

And was generally at risk. He was particularly under threat from sex predators who I now know, lived in the area. So was Daniel’s abduction, if that is what happened a premeditated event? Or did sex offenders simply take the opportunity and snatch him randomly? Shortly before he went missing

Daniel had run an errand for his father and was then seen with a group of children. What happened next however, remains shrouded in mystery. I’ve pretty much established that he didn’t fall into the river nor does it appear that he might’ve been pushed. By all accounts. Daniel was afraid of water.

And my cold case team believed that if he had been pushed, then someone would have spoken. But how do we explain his bike left at the scene? If the other children went home, why did Daniel stay behind? And were there really no other witnesses to the events surrounding his disappearance?

If this was an abduction or if he’d accidentally fallen into the river. How is it possible that there are no witnesses? – Well, you see, it’s possible that the bike was left there at that scene in order to hamper an investigation. Maybe that wasn’t the last place he actually was.

You see, in a lot of cases that people will try to skew an investigation in a particular way because that’s what they want to do. And often they will actually leave things beside the sea or rivers water. So it looks as if somebody has either committed suicide, though not in this case

A child so young or has fallen in. – [Donal] My cold case team is starting to narrow things down. And the abduction of Daniel seems a real possibility. – Most abductions are usually by people who know… Pedophiles work incredibly hard to groom their victims. So yes, there are children snatched

And that is always a massive problem. But there’s also children have fallen foul of people who actually know and have known them. And they feel reasonably confident and comfortable to be with. So I think he would have been in danger possibly more to people he would have known and maybe felt comfortable in.

Than someone driving past and just bundled him in her car, which I know does happen. – The question is, did the other kids who might’ve picked on him know anything of Daniel’s disappearance? And if he was the victim of someone who abducted him how close to Daniel might that person have been?

That’s something, no one is sure of. What is for sure though, is that he went to this shop, which was formally known as Blanco’s. Not only was Daniel caught on camera of the shop’s CCTV system. But many witnesses testified to seeing him in the shop and around the area shortly thereafter.

But so many people saw him before he disappeared. Where were they all when he vanished? Is it possible he was lured away from the busier parts of the town. It’s becoming clearer to me that Daniel may simply have been snatched. – This looks like much more an opportunistic abduction. And that that abduction

Or was probably much more motivated by the fact that somebody wanted to abduct him because they were interested in him sexually. – And from all the accounts I’ve heard there was significant activity of a sinister nature happening in Great Yarmouth at the time. – Within a kilometer radius,

Five known pedophiles that bank holiday weekend. Which way did it go? Which way did it go? – This is a very attractive little boy. Everybody talks about his looks. He was very small. He was very frail. He would not have been able to put up a fight.

He was away from any guardian that could have protected him. – He was on CCTV in a shop. Then he disappears and his bike is found back at the river. No, for me this points to the fact he was snatched. A well-known pedophile ring operated in that area.

He was a prime candidate for being snatched by them. – [Donal] But was his abduction a random happening? Or had Daniel been on someone’s sexual radar for some time? – These people are very clever. And that they can entice children however much you primed them beforehand. – Clive, if this was an abduction,

Would this be an abduction by one perpetrator or two? – I just feel when we talk abduction. I’m never too sure. You always get this image, don’t you? Of a child walking along and someone whipping up and picking ’em up. But if you’re coerced into come and help my dog

Or come and feed my dog or whatever, you’re coerced as equally an abduction. So that could be by someone who he knows. And once he’s inside you only got to look at the picture he was quite tiny he wouldn’t be able to get out.

So I feel this is more of a grooming type thing which will be an abduction in a sort of a way. – So was Daniel the victim of an opportunist predator? Or was there some sort of plan to snatch him? Both possibilities are horrifying for any parent to consider.

But for Paula Entwistle Daniel’s mom, more horrifying news was to come. I’ve discovered that new evidence in the case underpins my views and our expert analysis. And also shines a spotlight on just what was going on in the home of Daniel Entwistle. Coming up. A disturbing family secret,

Recent revelations open up new possibilities in this tragic case. School boy Daniel Entwistle vanished from his home in Great Yarmouth, one bank holiday Sunday afternoon. And was never seen again. His disappearance traumatized the local community. Heightening local people’s fears that their children too might now be at risk.

– This was a hugely shocking thing for the whole of Norfolk actually. Because child disappearances are pretty rare. And there certainly pretty rare in Norfolk. – There was obviously worried parents because when a child disappears and there’s no clue as to what’s happened to him

People are worried that he may have been kidnapped. They are worried about, is it somebody within the community? There was also concern among the children at Daniel’s school, because obviously, they’re wondering where their sort of friend and classmates gone. That kind of thing really hangs

Like cloud over an area for quite a long time afterwards. – As if the disappearance of Daniel wasn’t upsetting enough. His mother Paula would discover something that would turn her world upside down and blow the case wide open. Her husband, David was a convicted pedophile and had served a sentence for having sex

With a 12 year old girl. But there were even more shocking aspects to this revelation. – We subsequently discover that Daniel’s father was someone who was in pedophile ring. – But did David Entwistle’s, pedophile past have anything to do with Daniel’s disappearance? – In my work with pedophiles.

The one reality that strikes me time after time after time. Is that they do not just offend by themselves. They make contact via the internet with a range of other men. And that is by and large men who are pedophiles. Who are interested in children. Would Daniel’s father

Someone convicted of pedophilia have been in contact with other pedophiles? The chances of that seem to me to be highly likely based on the behavior of pedophiles who will try to reach out through the internet to other men who have similar tastes and similar interests. And they will share information with each other

About children that can be groomed, about children who are vulnerable, about children that they can have sex with but who won’t talk. – To what extent is it possible that his father’s friend or any of his circle of pedophile connections could have been responsible for Daniel’s disappearance?

I think the coincidence of his father being a pedophile and that being hidden and for the child to go missing is just too strong. It’s too strong just for it to be a coincidence. I think has to be linked in some way. – I’ve always felt for many years and certainly in Britain.

For many years that the pedophile information exchange actually allowed pedophiles to be better organized than we were the police. And so therefore I’ve always felt that pedophiles almost have to stick together, because it’s not something you could just go and chat about in the pub, is it? So by virtue of the fact

That they do need to stick together. I would find it, especially as he hid the fact. He wasn’t open with the fact, was he? And he traveled down, I believe from Manchester, wasn’t it? That he was convicted in. In fact that that would show a degree of secrecy.

And so therefore I would believe he would have known other pedophiles in the area because that’s what tends to happen with pedophiles. They tend to if you like work together and know each other because they’ve all got the same sexual ambition. – [Donal] Ambitions, I believe which

May have been developed over a period of time. – I feel that this young man was probably groomed by one of the pedophiles that lived in that area. He was known to them. He was gradually groomed by them. I think that this is the case rather than a pedophile appearing

On the bank holiday weekend and just snatching him. – Most children are murdered by somebody that they know. And in relation to Daniel Entwistle. We know that his father was a pedophile had been part of a pedophile ring. And therefore it seemed much more likely that that is the circumstances pursuing

That avenue is much more likely to deliver a result than anything else. Unless of course, eventually his body is found or the remains of his body are found so that they can be analyzed to provide other kinds of forensic evidence. – But this was a person who knew exactly what they

Were doing targeted and whisk this little boy away. I cannot believe he would get into the car of a stranger. He was that streetwise. He just wouldn’t. That wouldn’t be Daniel. He would be too frightened. So he was either perhaps forced in or horrifically he knew the person who was taking him away.

– [Donal] It seems extraordinary to me that David Entwistle pedophile past hadn’t in some way been picked up by the authorities in the area. And that this wasn’t seen as part of Daniel’s overall vulnerability. – [Roger] In the Daniel Entwistle case, there were two threats to that young man,

The river and five known pedophiles living within that area. He was a perfect target to be snatched by a pedophile predator. – [Donal] However, it’s important to realize that there is a difference between a pedophile who clearly wants to groom a victim and then perhaps hide his activities and a child murderer.

Our experts tell us that pedophiles don’t normally kill their victims. – The abduction and murder of children in our culture is incredibly rare. It doesn’t mean to say that it can’t happen. It does happen regrettably, but by and large children who are hurt, children who are raped, children who are murdered,

Are damaged by people that they know. – [Donal] So the possibility must still remain that Daniel was abducted and then killed. And that the motive wasn’t in any way sexual. Having heard all of the evidence what do my cold case team now believe is the truth underlying this case?

– To know the innocence of a seven-year-old and to know how vulnerable they are. He would have gone with somebody he knew. An adult could have done anything they wanted to him. And you just can’t even bear to think what happened to him or how his life ended.

– Regrettably, I wouldn’t be confident that he is alive. And sadly I don’t believe that he would be found. Which is dreadful for obviously his loved ones and his family. – The child was so young that he wouldn’t have taken much convincing to get into a car with somebody he knew.

– Otherwise lean towards the fact that Daniel was probably taken by somebody who knew him. And in fact that sadly they were pedophiles and took his life. – Because Daniel was never found. It’s very difficult, obviously for us to speculate as to what happened to him with no body.

So in terms of location of where he disappeared and what happened to the body, we don’t know. So it’s very very difficult even that. – Children don’t just go missing, do they? And anyone who has children of their own. You can almost feel that sort of gut wrenching sense of

This can’t happen. We just want him to come back. We want him to be okay. – 12 years on. And what happened to seven year old Daniel Entwistle remains a mystery. Having been overshadowed by other high profile disappearances like that of Madeline McCann. What this case really needed was a fresh injection

Of interest. The case now has a new momentum. Albeit for the wrong reasons. So what I’ve learned from all the evidence this disturbing case has thrown up. Is that Daniel’s opportunities in life were limited from the outset. He came from a challenging environment and there were very few people

Around the boy who are willing to support him. Regrettably, I have to assume that this led directly to the circumstances surrounding his tragic disappearance. The tale of Daniel Entwistle is a tragic one. Over the course of this investigation, I’ve come to realize that his vulnerability rested not only on where he lived

But also what he was allowed to do. The freedom he was given and the people he was exposed to. My work and the work of my cold case team leads me to believe that he didn’t die in an accident. He didn’t drown in the River Yare.

No body has ever surfaced to prove that theory. I believe that he was abducted. Abducted by someone he knew or someone close to someone he knew. I believe that he spent his final hours as a victim of a sexual predator.