0:00

Ghost Hounds, Make It Shake, the

0:02

follow up to Dirty Angel is out now.

0:05

Make it shake, make it shake, oh!

0:07

Get

0:07

Make It Shake anywhere you get your

0:09

music. Ghost Hounds, Make It Shake,

0:12

out now. New album and tour date

0:14

coming this summer.

0:24

What would you do if you found out someone

0:27

you knew, someone close to you,

0:29

was missing? In an instant,

0:32

your irritation at their unexplained absence

0:34

switches to panic.

0:36

There's a creeping sense of dread that

0:38

this is something far more serious than a missed

0:41

bus

0:42

or a flat tyre. What

0:44

steps would you take? Perhaps

0:47

you'd find yourself, as many do, rooted

0:50

to the spot, paralysed

0:52

at the very second that you need to

0:54

be decisive. But

0:57

this wasn't the initial response of

0:59

Deirdre Fennick. She wasn't

1:01

rooted to the spot. She wasn't paralysed.

1:05

She knew exactly what to do when

1:07

her daughter Carmel went missing in London

1:09

in the summer of 1998. Because

1:13

this wasn't the first, second

1:15

or even tenth time her child had

1:18

gone AWOL. Carmel

1:21

had a long-standing drug problem. One

1:23

that had pulled her into the orbit of people

1:26

and places that no one, let

1:28

alone a 16-year-old girl, should

1:30

find themselves.

1:33

But this time, Deirdre

1:35

didn't find Carmel. She

1:38

searched all of the usual haunts and

1:40

came up empty.

1:43

How do you convince the authorities that

1:45

this isn't like the other times? That

1:48

you're not going to hear the unmistakable rattle

1:51

of her key in the door at some ungodly

1:53

hour a day, a week or

1:55

even a month from now?

1:58

How do you persuade anyone? a seemingly

2:00

indifferent world, that your child

2:03

is in genuine danger, and

2:05

that something needs to be done about it, and

2:07

fast.

2:10

These

2:10

were the challenges that faced Deirdre.

2:13

I'm Pandora Sykes,

2:15

and you're listening to The Missing, a

2:17

Podomo podcast series produced by What's

2:20

the Story Sounds? and brought to

2:22

you with help from the charities Missing People

2:24

and Locate International. They

2:27

believe that all of the cases in

2:29

this series could still be solved.

2:33

This is The Missing, Carmel

2:36

Fenwick.

2:38

I've always been a single mother.

2:42

I've been on my own now for 30 years. I've

2:45

raised much kids myself. I've been

2:47

mother and father to my

2:50

kids. The only support I

2:52

ever had was from my family, my

2:54

mum, my dad, my brothers and sisters. That's

2:58

my family. That's my kids' family.

3:00

We have a fantastic

3:01

network, and I'm grateful

3:04

for that. Carmel

3:07

is the third of five children, born

3:09

on July 3rd 1981, in Guy's Hospital in London. Deirdre

3:15

vividly remembers the moment that she realised

3:17

her daughter was on the way. My

3:19

dad panicked, drove me

3:21

to the hospital. The road was blocked off. We

3:24

got there just after

3:27

one, and she was born by heart-pass. She'd

3:29

come out very quick, very

3:32

quick. Beautiful, beautiful,

3:35

healthy baby. Absolutely

3:37

beautiful.

3:38

Deirdre brought her newborn home,

3:41

where she introduced her to her siblings, Mandy

3:44

and Joey. They would be

3:46

joined a few years later by two more

3:48

children, David and Casey.

3:51

We lived in the borough off Great Dover Street.

3:53

Beautiful,

3:54

quiet. I

3:57

grew up there. My mum just lived down the road

3:59

in a cell-born house. house, great Dover Street.

4:02

And the

4:05

Burrough is a beautiful place to live. I'd

4:07

say it's very middle class. I

4:11

had a lovely little flat in Kemp

4:13

House and it's

4:16

just a really lovely place to live. I

4:18

had a fantastic childhood there and

4:20

I think Mandy, Joey and Carmel

4:22

had a great childhood there.

4:26

The kids were thick as thieves and

4:28

Deirdre looks back on those early years fondly.

4:30

There was always something going on. There was

4:32

a house full of people, always, you know, there

4:35

was always someone, one member of family either

4:38

visiting or living with us. And that's

4:40

how it's always been. Water

4:43

fights, paint fights, hide

4:45

and seek in the dark. We loved a water

4:47

fight. You know, once

4:49

I'd have popped the shots he'd come back in the house and

4:52

When Carmel turned five, the family

4:55

were rehoused and found themselves

4:57

living on the North Peckham Estate.

5:01

It was rough. It was rough. My kids

5:03

grew up tough. They were street wise but

5:05

they also, there was a great sense

5:07

of community.

5:09

We had lots of friends. I mean, we had problems

5:11

there, of course we did. She got into fights and, you

5:14

know, we had a few interactions

5:17

with some local thugs and drug

5:19

dealers,

5:20

but we stood our ground and we stood

5:22

up to them and we got on okay. Like I

5:24

say, there was good community spirit there.

5:28

Carmel had a big personality and could always

5:30

be found with a smile on her face. She

5:32

was never one to take things too seriously. Her

5:35

wise cracking continued in school where

5:37

making her friends laugh often took precedence

5:40

over her studies.

5:42

She wanted to learn. She wanted to do things in

5:44

life, but because she

5:46

turned into the clown

5:48

at school, you know, laughing

5:51

and giggling and talking and making jokes

5:53

in the class with the teachers they're trying to teach, it

5:57

doesn't bode well for her.

5:59

the transition to secondary school particularly

6:02

challenging. She went to St.

6:05

Savie's in St. Olives in

6:07

the New Kent Road, Great Dover

6:09

Street. She had a bit of a tough time there

6:12

and she was born with one foot and

6:15

one leg shorter than the other and

6:18

so she had a little bit of a pronounced limp

6:20

but she like she she disguised it well

6:23

but she did get teased at school for it. Then

6:26

one day, completely out

6:28

of the blue, Carmel's

6:29

estranged father re-entered

6:32

the picture.

6:38

When Carmel was 14 he

6:40

got in touch and he was

6:42

living in Malta with a new partner and

6:45

a new baby, a little boy and

6:47

he asked me if she could go over

6:49

there and visit him and see him.

6:51

I had great

6:53

doubts and fears about her

6:55

going over there. I didn't want her to go because

6:57

she hadn't had any contact with him since

7:00

she was maybe three years old

7:02

and all of a sudden he's come out of the woodwork and she

7:05

you know and I thought okay maybe he's changed,

7:07

maybe he's grown up, he's got a new partner,

7:09

a little baby, half brother took

7:12

to Carmel.

7:15

I didn't want her to go and she went mum please

7:17

let me go please.

7:22

Deidre was torn. On one

7:24

hand she'd brought Carmel up on her own

7:27

for over a decade and she didn't want

7:29

to invite sudden upheaval.

7:32

On the other she had a young

7:34

girl standing in front of her pleading

7:36

with her for the chance to reconnect with her

7:38

biological father. She

7:41

was out there two days when

7:43

she telephoned me crying because

7:46

she'd been out she'd come back, knocked on the

7:48

door and

7:48

woke him up and he started screaming and

7:50

shouting. I think he expected

7:53

a three-year-old child to turn up

7:55

not an independent 14-year-old girl who

7:58

was smoking and he came. down

8:00

on her very heavily. And so

8:03

in the end I had to contact Malta

8:06

police, Malta High Commission, Interpol

8:09

Revolved to get her

8:12

to a place of safety and flown

8:14

back home.

8:17

She begged me and I let

8:20

her go. It was the biggest mistake

8:22

I ever made. I just knew, I just knew it was

8:24

wrong.

8:26

Everything changed after that Malta trip.

8:29

In the years leading up to it, Carmel

8:31

had gradually become more and more self-reliant,

8:34

going to sleepovers, spending all day in

8:36

town with her friends, normal teenage

8:39

girl stuff. But after

8:41

she came back, things escalated.

8:45

She was very, very strong-willed,

8:48

very independent. And you know, she

8:50

said, I was out of friends tonight. I go, okay,

8:52

okay, darling, you know, stay safe,

8:54

come back see you in the morning. And then

8:57

things were changing and happened. I thought, I

9:00

didn't really, I took notice, but I didn't

9:02

take notice because you think,

9:04

oh, she's that age. She's

9:06

going through puberty, stroppy teenager.

9:10

I didn't realize that it was something

9:13

much more serious, much more

9:15

serious until she

9:18

stayed away a

9:19

couple of days. And I've

9:21

now gone looking for her to

9:23

this friend's house. And they went, no,

9:26

Carmel hasn't been here. I haven't seen Carmel in months.

9:28

We don't sort of hang around anymore.

9:31

And I'm thinking, well, where is

9:33

she then? And then

9:35

the more I looked, the more

9:37

questions I asked, the

9:40

more I got told from other friends

9:42

of hers, they no longer hung around

9:45

with her because she was hanging around with totally different

9:47

people

9:47

and that she was heavily into drugs.

9:55

At the age of 14,

9:57

whilst at a party, Carmel was

10:00

introduced to crack cocaine by a friend and

10:03

she'd been using it heavily ever since.

10:07

Deirdre was completely and utterly

10:09

blindsided. I

10:11

was thinking how could I miss this? How

10:13

could I not see? Because the

10:16

view and the media

10:18

is a lot to blame for this. When

10:22

they show you junkies, that's

10:25

with air quotes, pictures of junkies.

10:27

Look at this. This one's been on crack cocaine.

10:30

This is how she looked five years ago. This is

10:32

how she looks now. And look

10:34

at this one sniffing glue. Look at this drug addict.

10:37

Look at that drug addict. They're all dirty,

10:39

disheveled, scabbed up faces,

10:41

scabbed up teeth missing. My

10:43

caramel didn't look like that

10:45

at all. And that's the

10:48

signs you're looking for. But

10:50

it's not so. There

10:52

are lots of people out there that take drugs

10:54

and you would never know. There

10:56

are no outward signs.

11:00

The revelation put Carmel's lengthy

11:02

disappearances into context.

11:04

She was moving in a new, much

11:06

older circle. On a typical

11:09

day, Carmel would bunk off school,

11:11

link up with her new friends and find

11:13

drugs before eventually finding

11:16

somewhere to sleep off the effects.

11:18

It was shocking to hear people

11:21

saying to me, she's sleeping on stairwells.

11:23

She's in derelict garages. I'm thinking she's

11:26

sleeping in a stairwell, maybe 500

11:28

yards from her. Just come home. Why doesn't

11:31

she come home? And then

11:34

myself and Joey, we used to go looking

11:36

for her when she'd be gone for days.

11:39

And Mandy used to look after

11:42

David and Casey after

11:44

they'd come home from school. We'd give them their

11:46

supper, put them to bed. And

11:48

then me and Joey would just

11:50

traipse the streets early as the morning,

11:53

kicking the crack house doors looking for her.

11:55

We'd find her sometimes. Sometimes we'd find

11:58

her and bring her home. you know,

12:00

keep reporting and missing to the police.

12:03

Occasionally, when Carmel pulled a vanishing

12:05

act, she'd return home to an empty house

12:08

without her keys and have to make use

12:10

of some unconventional methods of entry.

12:13

I remember she'd been gone for about three or

12:16

four days, so I'm now heading

12:18

to London. It's the weekend

12:20

looking for her, so I'm in London looking for

12:22

her. When I come home later that

12:25

evening, she's indoors. She

12:27

went. I had to break the window to get in

12:29

because the house was locked and it was cold

12:31

outside, and I thought, you're such a cheeky

12:34

man. She was

12:36

home. I had the window repaired.

12:38

Two weeks later, she did the exact

12:40

same thing. I'm up in London looking for her.

12:43

She's come home, can't get in. She breaks the window to

12:45

get in.

12:46

She'd get away with that. You

12:49

know, she'd be gone for a week and she'd

12:51

come back, walk in the door

12:53

like she'd only brought the shops and back. What

12:56

baffled Deirdre most was how normal

12:58

her daughter seemed when she was at home.

13:03

Carmel was never rude.

13:07

Never came in with attitude to me. Never

13:09

ever gave me back chat, but

13:12

you could see there were some subtle changes in

13:14

her. It's hard to explain. It's like

13:16

she suddenly coming and went, yeah, yeah, well,

13:19

whatever. She never ever, ever

13:21

spoke to me like that, ever. It was like

13:23

two different people. I remember

13:26

coming into the living room one day, she was sat in front

13:28

of the TV and

13:30

she was listening to Puff Daddy, I'll

13:33

be missing you. And I just walked up behind

13:35

her

13:36

and we just hugged. Nothing

13:38

was said, nothing needed to be said, just, you know,

13:40

we just hugged.

13:44

For a long time, Carmel managed to

13:46

keep her two lives separate. But

13:48

one day, the world's violently collided.

13:51

It was

13:53

only one time I ever rammed

13:55

with her and really lost the plot with her.

13:57

And I did hit her. I do regret that. said,

14:00

oh, I'll pick Casey up from school.

14:03

And I said, OK, darling. She

14:06

picked Casey up from

14:07

school at 3 o'clock. 9 o'clock

14:10

that night, they still hadn't come home. Me

14:13

and Joey were out searching for them. Pop

14:16

back home, make sure she'd been back. Next

14:19

thing, Casey came in the back gate

14:21

by herself at about 10 o'clock at

14:23

night. Where's Carmel? And

14:26

she went, now Casey was about 4 or 5.

14:30

She went, she'd gone to get me sweets. I

14:33

heard Joey run, run. Catch

14:36

her, catch

14:36

her, Joey, because she although she hasn't gone far,

14:39

but she's left that child on the street by

14:41

herself to come into the house. And she's gone.

14:45

And I actually caught up with her and discovered

14:47

that she had been sat in

14:50

a crack house all afternoon with

14:52

Casey. And I just

14:55

hit her. I just punched her. I did. I

14:57

couldn't control myself.

14:59

Why? Why? Even

15:02

after that, a week later,

15:04

she's back home. Nothing's happened. And I

15:06

beside myself. I've done that beside

15:10

myself. And I think that was

15:12

the deciding moment to

15:15

get the heck out of London. And

15:19

I spoke to her. She went, OK, yeah, OK,

15:21

Mum. I'll do it.

15:22

I'll do it. And I went, OK, darling,

15:25

we'll have a fresh start. It'll be good.

15:28

Deirdre felt her best chance at keeping her

15:30

daughter safe was to get her as far

15:32

from the city as possible. A

15:35

neighbour of ours had moved to Crawley

15:37

a few years previously and wanted

15:40

to come back to Peckham.

15:42

And I said, well, you know my house.

15:44

And she said, well, do you want to do an exchange?

15:47

And we agreed. And

15:49

I uprooted my children to

15:51

get Carmel out of Peckham

15:54

and away from all those influences.

15:57

I left Joey behind. I left Mandy behind. I

16:00

just, I left my brothers, my sisters,

16:02

everyone behind just to get

16:05

her out of that situation.

16:08

I didn't even know where Crawley was. I never

16:11

had a clue. Carmel hadn't put

16:13

up any resistance to the London exodus. In

16:15

fact, she was all for it. Or so

16:17

she said. But when the day

16:20

of the move finally rolled around, she

16:22

was nowhere to be seen.

16:27

The day we moved to here, we

16:30

were packing up the

16:33

removal vans and that. And

16:35

she'd gone on the missing list again. And Casey's

16:40

dad, he drove me down in the first

16:43

removal van. And he

16:45

said, I probably should, Adra, we'll find her.

16:47

We'll find her. And I cried

16:50

all the way from there

16:54

to Crawley

16:56

because we didn't have all of us.

16:59

And then about 10

17:01

o'clock that night, the last

17:04

of my home

17:06

from London came down in the second

17:08

van. And she

17:11

was in the van. She was a

17:13

father and brought her home. We

17:16

settled into Crawley,

17:19

tried to make, you know, a lovely house.

17:22

Loved it there. But old habits die

17:25

hard. She kept going out

17:27

and heading back to London.

17:28

She'd be gone for a couple of days and then

17:31

she'd come back and then she'd be gone for a week and I'd

17:33

have to leave David and Casey

17:35

with total strangers so

17:37

I could go up to London and find her

17:40

and bring her home again constantly back

17:42

and forth, back and forth.

17:44

And

17:44

for a while now, Carmel's extracurricular

17:47

activities had been bringing her some

17:50

unwanted attention from the authorities.

17:52

She's been caught shoplifting

17:56

in Redhill or somewhere

17:58

like that. A mere My dad had to

18:00

go down and bail her out. When

18:03

Deirdre spoke to the police on that occasion, she

18:06

learned that her daughter hadn't been alone. She

18:09

was with an older white man, and he

18:12

drives a car, and apparently she was shoplifting

18:14

with this man. Efforts to

18:17

get Carmel to tell her more about this mystery

18:19

man fell on deaf ears, and

18:21

she firmly denied having a boyfriend.

18:24

But Deirdre knew there was something going on, a

18:27

fact she had confirmed when late one night,

18:30

she was woken up by the telephone

18:31

ringing.

18:34

I got a phone call from her, and

18:36

it's sort of midnight, and she's

18:39

crying, she's in it, she cannot barely breathe,

18:41

she's in

18:42

quite a bad way.

18:44

And I said to her, where are you?

18:47

She would, I'm in a phone box

18:49

in Brixton, he's beat

18:51

me. I went,

18:54

who's beat you? She went, no, no, no,

18:57

no, I need help. I went, listen, I'm

18:59

gonna call the police, you're not in

19:01

trouble, they're gonna come there to

19:04

help you. That's all, stay

19:06

where you are, tell me exactly

19:08

where you are, and I will get your help.

19:11

I'm in Crawley, she's in Brixton, midnight.

19:15

So I called the police, and the police

19:18

found her, she was in a bad way,

19:21

and actually, God bless them, they

19:23

brought her all the way home to Crawley.

19:30

Deirdre and Carmel spent a lot of time together over the next fortnight. They

19:35

were never anything less than close, but

19:37

during that two-week period, as

19:39

Carmel recuperated, Deirdre felt like she was truly

19:41

getting through to her child for the

19:43

first time in a long time. And

19:48

she healed, she was

19:50

actually looking really, really well.

19:53

That's when that last photograph was taken. I had

19:56

arranged for a professional photographer

19:58

to come and take. some photos

20:01

of the kids for me because we had this

20:03

special deal that was going on and

20:06

she went, mum, mum please let me have one done on my own and

20:08

I'm thinking, God, well this is costing me

20:10

a fortune, I can't afford it, let

20:13

alone do it. I mean, oh go on then, just go

20:15

on, we'll have one of her on herself

20:17

because there's a photo of her,

20:20

David and Casey together

20:21

and then she had the one done

20:24

individually and that was the

20:26

last photo I ever had taken of

20:28

her.

20:30

Deirdre's joy at having her daughter

20:32

safe and sound under her roof was

20:35

short-lived. Eventually

20:37

Carmel did what she always did and she took

20:39

off for London. Deirdre

20:41

expected she'd be back soon, she always

20:43

was and she carried on as usual.

20:47

Then one morning she received a phone

20:49

call from a London police officer by the

20:51

name of Matt Robinson. What

20:54

an amazing guy. Matt

20:56

and Deirdre were well acquainted. He

20:59

had picked up Carmel a number of times over

21:01

the years and had taken to looking out

21:03

for her and keeping her mother informed

21:05

of her whereabouts.

21:07

That morning he called up to tell Deirdre

21:10

that Carmel was due in court later that day

21:12

and that she needed to get to London as

21:15

soon as possible. So

21:17

I said okay, so left

21:19

my kids with a neighbour again, shot

21:22

to London, got to Camberwell courts

21:24

and he went I

21:26

managed to hold him off, she'll be up in

21:29

a minute into the court.

21:30

So I'm in the court now and when

21:32

she come up from the cells, oh my

21:35

God, my heart

21:37

was ripped from my chest. She's

21:40

wearing clothes that are like five times

21:43

too big for her.

21:45

She couldn't have weighed five stone. I

21:48

mean she's not a tall girl but there was nothing

21:50

of her and I looked at her and

21:53

I started crying. I went please, can't.

21:57

She went it's all right mum, I'm all right,

21:59

I'm all right. mum, I went, no look, you're not

22:01

all right. And I sat

22:03

in that court and I begged that

22:06

judge to lock her up,

22:08

make her a warder court, anything, lock her up,

22:11

just do something, because if you don't

22:13

do something now, my

22:14

child will be dead in six months.

22:20

The judge told Deirdre that the best he could do

22:22

was refer Carmel to the local authority

22:24

in Crawley. Deirdre

22:26

agreed, but she asked the judge for

22:29

some very specific bail conditions.

22:32

She said Carmel's best chance at recovery was

22:34

an extended stay in a children's centre.

22:38

I said, but her bail

22:39

conditions must be, she is not

22:41

to reside at my address, because

22:43

I know what social services we do, oh we've got nowhere

22:46

for her, can she stay at yours and they just passed

22:48

the buck.

22:48

And she's not to go into

22:51

Stratton, Bixdon and other areas.

22:54

Deirdre's plan worked, for

22:56

a while at least. They

22:59

put her into a children's

23:01

home sort of thing, but it

23:04

wasn't a secure unit. She

23:06

could go off out all day, do what she wanted

23:08

to do, but she had to be back in there

23:10

by nine o'clock at night, and she did

23:12

that. And she was talking to Mandy

23:15

on the phone, she was talking to me, things

23:17

were good, and I said to Carmel,

23:19

I didn't do this because I don't love you darling, I did

23:22

this because I

23:22

love you, I love you so much. She went,

23:24

I know mum, I need help and I'm going to get it this

23:27

time. And that was basically the

23:29

last conversation I had with her.

23:32

A few days later, Mandy received

23:34

a phone call from Carmel.

23:37

She told her sister that she thought she might be pregnant,

23:40

and that she was going to London that Saturday, the

23:42

23rd of May, to tell the man

23:45

she believed to be the father.

23:47

That was the last conversation

23:50

anyone from Carmel's family would have

23:52

with her. I

24:00

got a phone call from the police office.

24:02

I say, she's in court, can you get here? I

24:04

went, I can't. I've got no one to

24:07

have the kids. I haven't even got

24:09

the fair to get to London. And

24:11

I would never make it in time by the time she was dealt with.

24:14

And that was the last day she was in court.

24:17

That's when she walked out of court that day

24:19

where the judge find, he went, how

24:21

much money have you got on you? She went

24:23

six pound. He fined her

24:26

five pound. And let a 16 year

24:28

old child walk at that court with a pound knowing

24:31

her address is where Sussex.

24:34

And she's never been seen since.

24:37

After a few days without contact from Carmel,

24:40

Deirdre began to suspect her daughter had

24:43

once again pulled her usual disappearing act.

24:45

She's going to go to ground. I'm taking

24:48

the two kids away. I'll look for her when

24:50

I come back.

24:52

Deirdre had booked a week in a caravan park

24:54

for herself, David and Casey.

24:56

She hoped that by the time they returned home, Carmel

24:59

would have turned up safe and sound as

25:01

per usual.

25:03

When we came back from the caravan

25:05

holiday, I knew something

25:08

was seriously, seriously wrong.

25:15

It was now June and no one,

25:18

not even Mandy, who Carmel never

25:20

went more than a few days without phoning, had

25:22

heard from Carmel in weeks. Deirdre

25:25

knew this time was different.

25:27

But when she went to the police, she struggled

25:29

to get them to treat Carmel's disappearance with

25:31

the urgency she knew it deserved.

25:34

Because she'd been reported missing

25:37

so many times before, I went, no, she's

25:40

not a runaway. She's

25:42

missing. There's something seriously

25:45

wrong. Deirdre's

25:47

memories of that first week of her daughter's disappearance

25:50

are hazy. The

25:52

early days are an absolute

25:55

blur and a nightmare. And

25:57

I was recommended to get in touch

25:59

with Mandy. people because the

26:01

police weren't really doing much at all. So

26:04

I contacted missing people, they took on

26:06

her case and they have been

26:09

the most outstanding, supportive

26:12

people in the last 24 years.

26:15

She recalls long nights spent staking out

26:17

Carmel's usual London stomping grounds with

26:20

Mandy in tow. Mandy

26:22

drove.

26:23

Mandy would

26:25

sit up, parked up in the street that

26:28

there was a possible sighting of her all night long.

26:31

Mandy was sitting in her car

26:32

all night long. Now Mandy's ill,

26:35

Mandy's very ill. She has Crohn's

26:37

disease

26:38

and for her to be sitting in a car all

26:40

night just waiting for a possible

26:42

sighting of her sister or a

26:45

sighting of somebody that might know her. You

26:47

know, just trying to get any

26:49

information, any possible sightings of her and

26:51

there was nothing, absolutely

26:53

nothing.

26:56

One thing she remembers with utmost clarity

26:59

is the nightmare that unfolded because Carmel

27:01

had gone missing in London, a different

27:04

police jurisdiction to where Deirdre

27:06

lived in Crawley, West Sussex.

27:09

The problem with the police is because Carmel

27:11

went missing in the metropolitan area, I

27:14

live in West Sussex, there's a

27:17

conflict of interest. Any information

27:19

comes in that goes to West

27:22

Sussex

27:22

Police, then has

27:24

to be passed down to Metropolitan

27:27

Police because it's out

27:29

of their jurisdiction, if you get

27:31

what I mean. So if a sighting

27:34

comes in and it's sent to West Sussex,

27:36

they can't then drive up to London and investigate

27:39

that. They have to then request

27:41

that Metropolitan Police do it.

27:43

So by the time all this

27:45

goes around, that sighting is

27:48

long gone. Deirdre

27:53

wanted the ground to swallow her up after

27:55

Carmel went missing, to hide away

27:57

from the world, to mourn her daughter.

28:00

But she had four other children to look out for.

28:02

I was just on autopilot.

28:06

I used to get up in the morning, get Casey

28:09

and Dave ready for school, take

28:11

them to school, drop them off, come home

28:14

and just sit and cry all day. Just

28:17

sit and cry. Just

28:19

couldn't function. And then to try

28:22

and straighten yourself up and

28:25

not let them see what you've been through

28:27

during the day to pick your children up from school and bring them

28:29

home. Just waiting

28:31

for a knock on the door or a phone call or

28:34

something.

28:35

Or for her to just come in the back door or

28:37

even to come home from the shop and find a window

28:39

broken and out in the kitchen.

28:44

Years went by without a breakthrough and Deirdre

28:46

started to ask herself,

28:48

was it because Carmel was the wrong kind

28:50

of missing person? You're

28:53

just, you're doing nothing.

28:56

You've done nothing because she doesn't

28:58

fit the pretty upper class, middle

29:00

class family. She's just

29:02

some throwaway child of

29:04

some dirty, rough estate in Peckham. Well,

29:07

she's not. She's my child.

29:09

My children are not throwaway children. Today,

29:13

almost 25 years after her disappearance,

29:17

Deirdre is more certain than ever that something

29:19

happened to her daughter, that

29:21

she didn't simply run away to start a new

29:23

life elsewhere.

29:25

Whatever went on with Carmel, if we'd

29:27

ran today, she'd walk in this door two days later

29:29

like nothing had happened. Hello,

29:31

Mum. All right, put the kettle on. You

29:34

know, got what you got to eat. My

29:36

girl would never go away. And

29:39

despite her issues with the police's investigation,

29:42

she'll forever have a place in her heart for

29:44

PC Matt Robinson.

29:46

Him and his partner, me and

29:48

Mandy would go up to Brixton and they

29:50

would drive us around. And we'd see

29:52

if we could see her at Rancampoella or wherever. When

29:55

he was off duty, he used to...

30:00

be out and about looking for her as well.

30:03

The man has since immigrated

30:05

to Australia and I'm still in contact

30:07

with him now 24 years later. He

30:10

now has two beautiful daughters

30:13

who are now just a little bit older

30:16

than Carmel was when she disappeared. And

30:19

he didn't want to bring his children up here

30:22

when he saw what was going on. He

30:25

didn't want to have children and raise his children in this

30:27

country. Times

30:33

for the Distributors Dear Dree did

30:36

everything she could to keep her daughter's

30:38

case in the public eye over the years. Talking to the press,

30:40

doing radio interviews and applying social media publicity

30:43

campaigns. It

30:45

was vital for her to make sure she took active steps

30:47

to ensure Carmel was not forgotten. But

30:51

speaking so openly about her child's disappearance took

30:53

a toll on her. She

30:56

was realised during a television appearance with

30:58

former MP and broadcaster Robert

31:01

Kilroy-Silk.

31:06

I travelled up to London and arrived

31:08

at the studios. And there was

31:10

all these people there. And it suddenly

31:13

just hit me and I just couldn't

31:15

speak.

31:16

I couldn't... And

31:18

these were all families and people

31:20

in the same situation. But I had children

31:23

missing.

31:25

And I had to go to the toilets because I

31:27

couldn't look at anyone. I couldn't speak

31:30

to anyone. And

31:33

then a lady stepped

31:35

up from missing people. She went

31:37

to me, Hello, she went,

31:39

you're D.H.R.D. I was like,

31:42

yeah. And she was my

31:45

liaison with missing people. And

31:48

she actually sat with me the whole time and

31:50

she got me through that

31:50

programme and listened

31:53

to other people's stories.

31:56

And that's when you know it's real.

31:59

My child is dead. missing. In

32:02

the 25 years since Carmel was last

32:04

seen, not one shred

32:06

of evidence has emerged that could shed light

32:08

on her case. I mean somebody

32:11

has obviously, well,

32:13

committed the perfect crime. They've

32:15

got to wait with it. Deirdre

32:18

is certain that someone out there knows

32:20

what happened to her daughter. That

32:22

child didn't just disappear, there were other

32:25

people there involved. And how they

32:27

sleep at night, I don't know. Do they have children?

32:29

Do they kiss their children good night when they

32:31

put them to bed? I can't do that with

32:34

my child no

32:34

more. I can't hug

32:36

my child no more. What

32:38

she wants, what she needs, is

32:41

for someone to come forward. Someone

32:43

who can bring closure to a chapter that

32:45

for decades now has had no

32:48

ending.

32:50

Like I say, if anyone

32:52

has any information, even how the

32:55

smallest piece could be that

32:57

piece, that little piece in this puzzle,

33:00

to help solve this, you

33:04

know, please, I beg you,

33:06

please, ease

33:08

this family's suffering. I'm sorry.

33:22

In many cases, it takes just one

33:24

piece of information to lead

33:27

police or family to the answers

33:29

they crave. If

33:31

you know what happened to Carmel,

33:33

or you remember seeing someone like her

33:36

on May 21st, 1998, your

33:39

information could be vital. Even

33:42

if you've never heard of Carmel Fennick before

33:44

listening to this episode, you could still

33:46

help.

33:48

Visit our website, themissingpodcast.org,

33:51

where you'll find more information on this

33:54

and every other case we've featured on this podcast.

33:58

There, you can join an online movement,

34:01

one dedicated to supporting the investigations

34:03

for all the cases we've covered, including

34:06

the one you're listening to right now.

34:09

Since the launch of the Missing podcast,

34:12

over 300 volunteers have joined

34:14

community investigation teams led by

34:16

Locate International.

34:18

In the UK alone, there are

34:20

over 12,000 long-term missing

34:23

and unidentified people. To

34:26

support Locate's efforts and

34:28

to learn more about the vital work they

34:30

do, visit locate.international

34:34

where you can join the mission to help

34:36

locate the missing.

34:38

The series is also made in collaboration

34:41

with the charity Missing People, who

34:43

work tirelessly to support the families

34:46

of the missing. Their

34:48

helpline is open to offer support and

34:50

advice if you've been affected by

34:52

anything in this episode. You

34:54

can reach them by calling or texting 11600

34:57

or by emailing them at 11600 at

35:05

missingpeople.org.uk.

35:08

We cannot say this

35:10

enough. It takes just one person

35:13

with the right information to solve

35:15

any of the cases in this series.

35:18

Deirdre hopes that the information will soon

35:21

arrive to solve this one. The

35:24

Missing is a podcast from Podomo and

35:26

What's the Story Sounds.

35:28

It's hosted by me, Pandora Sykes.

35:31

The episodes are researched and produced by Jacka

35:33

Kennedy, the executive producers

35:36

for Podomo are Jake Chudnow and

35:38

Matt White, and the executive producers

35:40

for What's the Story Sounds are Darryl

35:43

Brown and Sophie Ellis.

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