Disappearance of Patrick Warren and David Spencer

Patrick Warren and David Spencer were two English schoolboys who mysteriously vanished on December 26 Boxing Day 1996 in the Birmingham town of Solihull, and to this day no traces of them have ever been found. Despite numerous appeals from both families, including a crimewatch special report, the case remains open and is one of the more notorious cases of missing children in U.K. history.^[1]

Disappearance

On Boxing Day evening in 1996 Warren and Spencer, who were best friends, left their Chelmsey Wood homes to visit a friend. They left on brand new bicycles which had been Christmas presents. The boys had been spotted by an officer earlier that afternoon playing with another group of children in Meriden Park where they had been warned by the officer not to play on the frozen pond. After returning home, they told their parents of their plans to visit one of Patrick's brothers that evening. Derek Warren, another brother, went looking for them the next day when he found out that they hadn't arrived. The last known sighting of the boys was just after midnight by a petrol attendant who gave them a packet of biscuits. Patrick Warren's brand new red Apollo bicycle, a Christmas gift, was found abandoned behind the petrol station near the bins.^[2] The petrol station attendant said they saw the boys walking toward the local shopping centre.^[3]

Later developments

The boys' faces were among the first to be used in a groundbreaking missing person's milk carton ad campaign. On the 10th anniversary of their mysterious disappearance, the boys were the subject of a Crimewatch special appeal for information, which drew no fresh leads.^[4] In 2003, West Midlands Police publicly announced that they had arrested a 37-year-old man in connection with the disappearances; he was later released on bail and has never been charged.^[2] Following a further Crimewatch appeal on the 10th anniversary of the disappearances, fresh new leads were announced by the police. In 2006, the police announced they were "closer than ever" to solving the mystery of what happened to the boys, but despite renewed hope from the families, no one has ever been formally charged with their abduction.^[2]

Brian Field as suspect

Convicted child killer Brian Field, who was jailed for life in 2001 for the 1968 rape and murder of schoolboy Roy Tutill, was interviewed by police about the boys' disappearance.^[5] Field was linked to Tutill's death when he was arrested for drink driving and provided a DNA sample. He had continued to offend against boys and teenagers throughout his adult life, and in 1986 was imprisoned for four years for abducting two schoolboys aged 13 and 16. Field was working as a handyman very close to the boys' Solihull homes when they vanished, where he had access to a vehicle and was living locally at the time. In November 2006 police searched wastelands where Field was known to dump material in the hope of finding the boys' bodies. Field has never admitted his involvement in the boys' abductions, and noted criminologist David Wilson believes he is responsible for the crime.^[5][6]

See also

• List of people who disappeared mysteriously

References