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350 yards is a relatively short distance.

0:39

It's

0:44

about the length of three football pitches, a

0:46

journey most of us could make in five minutes or

0:49

less. It's also the

0:51

distance between Sparing's Community Shop

0:54

on Lower Addiscombe Road in Croydon and

0:56

the home of the Hicks family. On

0:59

a cold spring night in 1986, Kevin Hicks, 16 years old,

1:05

the eldest child of Terry and Derek, made

1:08

the short journey to Sparing's

1:10

to buy some eggs. His

1:12

younger sister Alex lay in bed, waiting

1:14

for the knock on the door and the telltale

1:17

sound of her brother's footsteps on the stairs

1:19

as he returned from his short shopping

1:21

trip.

1:23

But they never came. And

1:25

Alex has spent many a late night

1:27

since, ruminating on

1:29

that 350-yard journey.

1:33

Was there a freak accident of some kind

1:35

along the way? One that someone

1:37

decided to cover up? Or

1:40

was there someone out there, a person or persons

1:43

with malicious intent, who had

1:45

deliberately harmed her sibling?

1:48

It's a mystery that has plagued her for

1:50

the better part of four decades.

1:53

I'm Pandora Sykes, and you're listening

1:56

to The Missing, a Podomo podcast

1:58

series produced by What's the Story?

1:59

Sounds and brought to you with

2:02

help from the charities Missing People and

2:04

Locate International.

2:06

They believe that all of the cases in

2:09

this series could still be solved.

2:12

This is The Missing, Kevin

2:15

Hicks. Kevin

2:21

and Alex grew up in Croydon, where

2:23

they were raised by their mum, Terri, and

2:25

dad, Derek. Mum

2:28

was a receptionist

2:32

and also done payroll, that

2:35

sort of side of things. And

2:37

my dad was a computer management

2:40

who had a joint business with his best

2:43

mate,

2:46

doing computers,

2:48

all different things from printing off

2:51

leaflets, as we now call junk mail.

2:54

We was quite close. Obviously,

2:56

being a year and one day between us

2:58

and looking so much like people thought we were

3:00

twins, we

3:03

went to the same schools and

3:06

his friends were my friends and obviously their

3:08

brothers and sisters, and vice

3:10

versa, we were all friends.

3:13

For a significant chunk of their lives, the

3:15

Hicks children were practically joined at

3:17

the hip. But like all brother-sister relationships,

3:20

sibling rivalry reared its head every

3:23

once in a while.

3:26

We was over the park. It

3:28

was cold. We was quite young,

3:31

quite icy, snowy

3:33

day. And at the

3:35

bottom of the park, they had like

3:37

a swimming pool

3:39

and it was all full up with ice. And

3:42

I remember my brother kept trying to push me in

3:44

there, like just to skate on

3:46

the top and

3:47

I kept saying, no, no, no. And

3:49

then I tried to push him in there and

3:51

he managed to get me in there. And I ended

3:54

up with a result of a sliced

3:57

knee where the piece of ice just went

3:59

straight in. my knee. And

4:02

I've never forgiven him for it either. At

4:05

school, Kevin was well liked. He

4:08

got on really well with everybody. And

4:10

he took his studies fairly seriously. As

4:13

far as I know, Kevin never bunked

4:14

off school, but when he'd come home from school,

4:17

he'd always do his homework, which was the rules.

4:20

You come home, you get changed, you do your homework,

4:22

you can go out,

4:23

and then you come back for dinner. That's

4:26

where I was more sort of bunking

4:30

off with my mates because he couldn't be bothered. He

4:34

also had a lot of hobbies, chief amongst

4:37

them being radio-controlled car racing.

4:39

A pastime he and his dad bonded

4:41

over.

4:42

At the time, there was a shop called BT's

4:45

that built

4:47

a car or built aeroplanes,

4:50

sort of like aero-fix things. But this

4:52

one was remote-controlled car that

4:54

you build up, put a little engine in it. And

4:57

he found a couple of places, local,

4:59

which was at Eden Park at West Wycombe,

5:02

and also at Crystal Palace

5:05

Park, where they done tournaments

5:08

and competitions where

5:10

he can race the car.

5:13

And if you're obviously

5:15

in the top three, you get a little mini trophy.

5:18

He was actually quite good. We'd

5:20

all go, especially if there

5:23

was, like, at Crystal Palace Park,

5:25

we'd take the dog down there as well. So

5:29

if I got bored, then I can just go off

5:31

and take the dog for a walk or whatever.

5:34

The dog in question was Blue, a German

5:36

Shepherd Labrador cross who had an affinity

5:39

for a specific minty smack.

5:43

His favourite thing was polos. sit

6:00

there in front of him, he wouldn't move, and

6:02

he wouldn't move until he got a polo. He

6:04

liked to have a fresh breath. Kevin

6:08

and Blue were particularly fond of one another.

6:11

Wherever Kevin was, Blue was there.

6:15

And obviously when Kevin went missing, Blue just

6:17

stayed at the front door waiting for him to come home.

6:21

Like he would do for when we come home from

6:23

school or from the park or wherever. As

6:25

soon as we was out, he would lay

6:27

there and think, right, it's nearly

6:30

the time they come home about quarter

6:32

to four o'clock from school. He'd be sitting

6:35

there waiting. And

6:37

it was actually quite sad to see, obviously,

6:39

when Kevin went missing that

6:42

Blue was just laying there

6:44

and waiting. Kevin

6:47

was also a dab hand in the kitchen, a passion

6:49

he discovered during home economics class.

6:52

I think it was just something that he

6:54

started to enjoy. And

6:58

whatever he made at school, he always bought home.

7:01

Christmas times, he always made like

7:03

a chocolate log. And

7:06

I think one time he tried to make a beef

7:08

Wellington, but it went completely wrong. And

7:11

the boy being the boy,

7:13

he's throwing it all up in the air, I'm not

7:15

doing it no more, because it just wouldn't

7:17

go right. Even

7:20

his mates didn't take the mick out of him as well.

7:22

Quite a lot of blokes

7:24

take the mick out of them doing cooking

7:27

because that's a girl's hobby and sort

7:29

of thing.

7:30

As they got older, Alex and Kevin

7:32

began to forge their own paths, lean

7:34

into their own hobbies. As

7:37

a result, they drifted apart a little

7:39

bit. But Kevin was never

7:41

far away if his sister needed him. If

7:43

I had a problem, then he was there and he

7:45

would help me out. But

7:48

at the same time, it would sort of be, you

7:50

know, go away, don't talk to me, you stay

7:52

on your side, and I'll stay on my side sort

7:54

of thing. But that's typical brother and sister

7:57

banter

7:59

when you're sort of liar in your teenage

8:01

years.

8:03

On the evening of March the 2nd 1986, the

8:06

Hicks family sat

8:08

down for what would end up being their

8:10

final meal together.

8:14

Alex remembers the last conversation

8:16

she had with her brother well,

8:19

because it was one they'd had a hundred

8:21

times before. We all

8:23

had dinner and then

8:25

me and Kevin had the typical argument, and

8:29

you wash up, no you wash up, I'll wash

8:31

up, you dry up,

8:32

and in the end my mum

8:34

was like, you wash up, you dry up. And

8:38

even though there was a dishwasher there, we had to wash up.

8:44

Kevin won the argument, as he usually

8:46

did. He triumphantly snatched

8:49

the towels, smiling as Alex begrudgingly

8:51

began to mix hot water and washing up liquid,

8:54

and got to work scrubbing the towering stack of

8:56

dishes next to the sink.

8:58

While we was drying up, Dad got a call out

9:00

to work, the alarms was going off, and

9:04

so he went off to work, and that was

9:06

probably about

9:08

quarter to eight, eight o'clock. It

9:11

was a Sunday night, so Kevin and Alex started

9:14

to get their bags ready for school the next day. That's

9:17

when Kevin suddenly remembered. Oh,

9:19

I've got a cooking exam in the

9:21

morning, and I need some

9:23

eggs, because whenever they were

9:25

cooking you had to bring your own ingredients in.

9:28

So mum said, right, get whatever you want,

9:31

it's all there, and that's when he said,

9:33

oh, you've not got enough eggs.

9:35

I'll go down the road and get

9:37

them, which was only, the

9:40

shop's not that far, less than 500 yards,

9:43

I think. You could run it

9:45

in a minute and a half.

9:49

Kevin went down there at 20 to 9

9:52

in the evening,

9:55

and that was the last we saw of him. Alex

10:01

remembers the sound of the front door slamming

10:04

behind Kevin and the echo of his

10:06

steps fading into the night as

10:08

he took off at speed down the street known

10:10

as Black Horse Lane.

10:12

He literally took a parent with him, left

10:15

his bike behind and he went everywhere on

10:17

his bike but you know because it was just more

10:19

hassle getting the bike out the shed, riding

10:22

down there and then coming all the way back again

10:24

so hence the reason he was by foot

10:27

and left his keys behind

10:30

because we were all indoors so

10:33

there was no need to take the keys.

10:35

We only took the keys with us when we knew no one

10:37

was going to be home. The

10:39

trip to and from the shop shouldn't have taken more

10:41

than a quarter of an hour,

10:43

far less for Kevin who'd sprinted

10:45

but 15 minutes came and went with no sign

10:47

of him.

10:49

Terry tried to hide her concern

10:51

but Alex knew she was worried.

10:55

If we were going to be late home, mum

10:58

always said to us reverse the charges

11:01

and if we didn't have 5p for a

11:03

phone call back then, because

11:06

obviously there was no mobile phones around but

11:08

we would always phone unless we were

11:11

at our friend's house and we'd say can I

11:13

phone mum mum and basically

11:15

so and so invited us for dinner and say

11:17

okay if I stay or I'm going to be

11:20

half an hour late I'm waiting for a bus

11:22

so we were always, if we were

11:25

late, we'd always let

11:27

her know where we were and what we were doing.

11:30

By the time Derek returned from work

11:33

at around 10.30, Kevin

11:35

still hadn't come home.

11:39

Alex, who had been sent to bed at this point,

11:42

remembers overhearing the concerned

11:44

conversation between her parents as

11:46

they paced back and forth downstairs.

11:48

I heard mum say don't

11:51

lock the front door, Kevin's not home yet

11:54

and obviously dad straight away was well

11:56

where the hell is he, look at the time.

12:00

She said he went out to go and

12:02

get some eggs for his exam

12:05

tomorrow and

12:07

he's not come back yet. But

12:10

before I was sent to bed I was moaning

12:12

to my mum saying if this was me,

12:14

you know, I'd be in so much trouble, taking

12:18

so long. And

12:20

mum was just basically trying to brush

12:23

it off and I always probably got talking to a friend

12:25

and mistracked time and gone back

12:27

to theirs or whatever.

12:29

Kevin's dad jumped into his green

12:31

Subaru estate and after enlisting

12:34

the help of a friend who lived across the road

12:36

began searching the area. Meanwhile,

12:40

Terry grabbed the phone and started dialling.

12:43

My bedroom was sort of like the first on

12:46

top of the stairs and

12:50

next to the stairs downstairs was the

12:52

front room

12:53

and I could hear

12:55

her on the phone ringing

12:57

up all of Kevin's friends. I don't suppose

12:59

Kevin's met up with so

13:02

and so and gone back to yours and

13:04

nope, sorry, but if you see him or if I see

13:07

him I'll let you know.

13:09

By the time Derek returned a few hours later,

13:12

Terry had not only called every one of

13:14

Kevin's friends but all of the hospitals

13:16

in the area too.

13:19

Each one of them told her the same thing.

13:22

No one by the name of Kevin Hicks had

13:24

been admitted that night.

13:26

Derek had also stopped by the police station

13:28

on his way home to report his son

13:31

missing, but to his utter frustration

13:33

he was turned away.

13:35

The police at South Norwood station turned

13:38

man and said, there's nothing we can do,

13:40

he's 16 and

13:43

he's an adult. Come back in 24 hours,

13:47

which no, my dad was furious

13:49

at because 16 year

13:52

old might be classed as an adult but he's still a kid.

13:54

Derek's lay awake until

13:57

the early hours of the morning, listening

13:59

intently.

13:59

to the goings-on downstairs,

14:02

hoping she'd hear the front door open,

14:04

quickly followed by her brother's sheepish apology

14:07

to their beleaguered parents.

14:10

But no such sounds ever materialised

14:13

and eventually she drifted off to sleep.

14:19

The following morning she woke with a start and

14:21

immediately ran to Kevin's room.

14:24

His bedroom was next to mine, his door was

14:27

always open. In his bedroom,

14:30

when you're looking out the window, you can see right

14:32

up the end of the road where

14:35

the shop was and

14:36

looking the other way you can

14:39

see right up the bridge

14:41

with the train track. So

14:44

you had a good view of the

14:47

road, of Blackhorse Lane. Obviously

14:49

I went in there,

14:50

saw that his bed hadn't been touched

14:53

and mum was sitting on the windowsill looking out the window,

14:55

looking up the road,

14:57

which she spent most of the days

15:00

doing.

15:04

Alex ate a hurried breakfast. The

15:07

mood at the table was understandably subdued.

15:10

No one was saying very much. She

15:13

picked up her bag and Derek drove her to school.

15:16

Alex tried to go about her day as normal, but

15:19

by the time the final bell rang that day,

15:22

the whole school would know that her brother was

15:24

missing. The police

15:26

actually came to the school,

15:30

spoke to the teachers and

15:32

the headmaster. We had an emergency

15:35

assembly where the police

15:38

took over the assembly and explained

15:40

that Kevin was missing.

15:43

Does anybody know where he is? Have they

15:45

seen him? Have they spoken to him?

15:50

And obviously people were all

15:52

shocked. Alex

15:55

was then taken home by two police officers.

15:58

They brought her up to Kevin's bedroom. where

16:00

they proceeded to interrogate the 15-year-old

16:02

about her brother's whereabouts.

16:05

And basically saying to me, come

16:07

on, enough of this rubbish, you know exactly where

16:09

he is, just tell us where he is. And

16:12

I didn't have a clue. And I

16:14

kept saying to them, I don't know anything,

16:17

I don't know where he is. And

16:19

he's like, oh, come on, come on, brothers

16:21

and sisters always talk to one another. Alex

16:23

was deeply confused. If she knew

16:26

where her brother was, why would anyone

16:28

think she'd keep that information to herself?

16:30

And it wasn't just the police who believed that

16:32

she knew more than she was letting on. All

16:37

the accusations that I was getting

16:39

from the police and at

16:41

the time from my mum and dad as well, but I

16:44

I know they didn't mean to be

16:47

sort of like bombarding me with questions,

16:51

but

16:51

they're probably bombarding one another with questions

16:53

as well. And

16:56

so it's just a fear. And

16:58

I would just ignore them and go straight out to my room

17:00

because that was the best place for me at the time, just

17:02

to stay in my room and stay out of

17:04

it. And because I wasn't being

17:06

talking, you know, being spoken to like

17:09

I've done something, you know, hadn't.

17:11

The police also spoke at length

17:13

with Kevin's best friend, Andy.

17:16

The pair

17:16

had gone ice skating together on Saturday

17:19

night, just 24 hours before Kevin

17:21

vanished. But

17:22

when pressed about Kevin's mindset, Andy

17:24

couldn't recall anything out of the ordinary. Andy

17:28

said, you know, he was as

17:30

normal, there didn't seem to be any problems,

17:33

he wasn't concerned about anything. As

17:36

time went by, the investigation into

17:38

Kevin's disappearance ramped up. The

17:41

police was

17:41

in contact every day.

17:44

We had a family liaison that was at the house

17:46

every day. They were doing door-to-door

17:50

knocks, you know, asking questions, had

17:52

all of Kevin's friends there all been

17:55

questioned, investigated. Had

17:58

they seen him when was the last time they saw him?

17:59

in what did they do, what did you just talk

18:02

about

18:03

and then the beginning of

18:05

the second week they done

18:08

a search at Shirley Hills which

18:10

backs on to our school at John

18:12

Ruskin.

18:14

Like a mini forest, it's

18:17

got a restaurant in there but it's also where

18:19

a lot of people walk their dogs. You've

18:22

got a viewpoint there where you can

18:24

literally

18:24

look over the whole

18:26

of sort of Croydon and see

18:30

London. It's like the local

18:32

viewpoint that you know on a clear day you

18:34

can see miles and miles. Naturally,

18:38

Alex wanted to help with the search for her brother

18:40

in any way that she could.

18:42

When they done the search at Shirley

18:44

Hills

18:44

from the school I

18:47

wasn't allowed to go being his

18:49

sister but

18:51

all of Kevin's friends from school joined

18:54

in on that search. The

18:57

male teachers joined in

18:59

on that search and my dad, my

19:01

uncle and my granddad were

19:04

all up there. My granddad

19:06

come across black sacks

19:08

and obviously the search had to be stopped

19:12

but it turns out that the black sacks were just full

19:14

of leaves that someone had dumped.

19:16

Years later she can appreciate

19:19

that her parents were trying to protect her but

19:22

it didn't stop her from feeling intensely frustrated

19:24

at being kept out of the loop. I

19:27

was kicking up stink saying well at the end of the

19:29

day he's my brother why am I not

19:31

allowed to be included in it?

19:34

You know if

19:36

everyone else can go and my dad

19:38

can go why can't I go? Kevin's

19:40

friends are there and it was just

19:43

you know it wasn't because I was being

19:45

left out. I really

19:48

wanted to be there because at the end of the day

19:50

he's my sibling

19:52

so I should be allowed to go but no

19:54

matter what they said to me it wasn't making sense and

19:56

I

19:56

just kicked off on one then you know as

19:59

you do. Unsurprisingly,

20:04

Spering's community shop, where Kevin

20:06

had intended to purchase his eggs, was

20:09

the first port of call for the authorities.

20:12

They went to the shop where

20:14

Kevin was meant to have gone and

20:17

asked for the CCTV tape and

20:21

the manager turned and said, we're

20:23

sorry, we haven't got one in there.

20:26

We've got the video

20:28

and we've got the TV but we don't have any tapes.

20:32

And the staff don't even remember Kevin

20:35

going in there. It was

20:37

a serious blow to the investigation.

20:40

Without knowing if Kevin had ever made

20:42

it to the shop in the first place, and at what

20:44

time, they were relying on guesswork

20:46

to determine the scope of their search.

20:50

But then,

20:51

all of a sudden, there was a reported

20:54

sighting. There

20:56

was a young lad in

20:57

Thornton Heath that worked in her

20:59

hairdressers.

21:00

He apparently looked

21:03

the double of Kevin and

21:05

the police took him home to get

21:07

his parents to prove who

21:09

he was by looking at his birth certificate

21:11

and his passport.

21:13

And obviously, it turned out it wasn't Kevin,

21:15

but it was so much that he looked like

21:17

him, they had to do it.

21:19

As days turned into weeks, the

21:22

Hicks family could sense the police's rapidly

21:24

diminishing belief that Kevin would turn up.

21:28

The police were good at

21:30

the beginning and then

21:33

they just started to slack off and

21:36

not be that helpful and

21:40

not much communication. Given

21:42

the sheer amount of young men who

21:44

vanish in the United Kingdom on an annual

21:46

basis, Alex began to wonder,

21:49

had Kevin been female, would his

21:52

case have gotten more attention?

21:54

I've always said. When

21:56

a young girl or a woman goes missing,

21:58

they get more public.

21:59

the more a

22:02

male does and I think it's so wrong. For

22:05

their part, Kevin's parents did everything

22:07

they could to keep the case in the limelight.

22:10

They'd done a lot of media.

22:12

At the time it was the Croydon Advertiser,

22:15

which was the local paper, and

22:18

the Croydon Guardian and the Croydon

22:20

Post were the freebie papers at the time.

22:23

And also Mum and Dad was doing quite

22:25

a bit of news with

22:28

the police, crime watch

22:30

as well. They couldn't

22:32

do reconstruction

22:33

of Kevin because

22:35

literally it was just Kevin

22:37

coming out of the house and walking up the road and

22:39

then that's it because we don't know what happened, how

22:42

far he got.

22:43

So they wouldn't do a reconstruction, but

22:46

they would show you a picture of the house when they're

22:48

filming and the road that Kevin

22:50

walked up, which was Blackwood Slane. And

22:52

then they would show a picture of the shop

22:55

that Kevin was meant to have gone to. Despite

23:00

their best efforts, the initial media

23:02

blitz didn't result in a single tip about

23:04

their missing son. They responded

23:07

the way most parents in their situation would,

23:10

by doing everything in their power to

23:12

make sure the same thing didn't happen to their

23:14

daughter. They

23:15

wrapped me up in cotton wool and

23:18

I hated it. I'm

23:20

being shouted at because I'm a few minutes late

23:23

coming home from going

23:25

out with my friends or coming home

23:27

from school or I didn't phone up. It

23:29

was just anything to pick

23:31

on me.

23:32

I had to be home at something stupid

23:35

like seven o'clock

23:36

as where all my mates were out

23:38

to about eight, nine o'clock and they

23:41

had a bit more freedom than what I did.

23:43

And in the end, it just got too much so I moved

23:45

out.

23:48

Things were tense between Alex and her parents

23:50

for quite some time. Her

23:52

parents didn't approve of Alex's decision to

23:54

fly the nest and they hated the fact

23:56

that they could no longer keep tabs on her.

23:59

But eventually,

23:59

Initially they all began to see eye to

24:02

eye.

24:03

Terry got sick and passed away from complications

24:06

relating to a brain tumor in 1994. And

24:10

from that point onwards, Alex took on a more

24:12

involved role in the ongoing search

24:14

for her brother. When it comes to

24:16

the 10 years, you have the

24:19

rights legally to declare

24:21

whoever's missing dead

24:22

if you want to. Obviously, Mum

24:25

and Dad have always said they're

24:27

not declaring Kevin dead until there's

24:29

a body. Because there's no proof

24:31

until you get a body. And

24:34

I said to Dad, no way are you

24:36

doing that on the 10 year. He's

24:39

out there somewhere. We've got to find the answers.

24:42

Following her father's death

24:44

in 2003, looking for Kevin became Alex's

24:46

sole responsibility. And it

24:48

was one she took extremely seriously.

24:51

But many of those near and dear to her couldn't

24:54

understand why Alex was still searching.

24:57

A lot of people have said, you

24:59

know, it's obvious that he's

25:02

run away. He doesn't want anything to do with the family

25:04

or he's being murdered.

25:07

Just accept it and get on with your life. For

25:09

people like that, my response

25:11

to them is, well, let's just hope you never go missing

25:13

and need help.

25:15

And with the advent of social media in

25:17

the noughties, Alex suddenly had

25:20

powerful new tools available to her. Ones

25:22

that didn't exist when Kevin vanished

25:25

back in 1986. The

25:28

I'm on Facebook and I've set up Kevin's page

25:30

as well. Kevin Hicks is missing. And

25:33

it's not just him that I put on there. It's

25:36

whoever is missing. Obviously,

25:38

the main page is Kevin. So I'd write

25:41

on their updates or anything.

25:42

And whilst Alex found a lot of support

25:45

online, she also experienced

25:47

unkind commentary. People

25:50

have written

25:50

on Kevin's page and privately

25:52

message me, you know, just

25:55

accept the fact it's over 30 years. He's

25:58

dead. Get on with your life.

25:59

you even bothering waste during your time

26:02

and things like this and I was

26:04

rebelling and literally having an

26:07

argument back and forth with the messages.

26:09

Alex remembers

26:11

her very first encounter with an online

26:13

troll all too well.

26:15

It was quite a long time ago and

26:17

I was really shocked.

26:20

I was at work at the time and I had a message come

26:22

through on my phone.

26:24

On Facebook you have a message from

26:26

Kevin Hicks and straight away it was like

26:29

oh my god what do I do? Do I open it? Do

26:31

I ignore it? What do I do? I was a complete

26:33

mess because obviously it just tells you

26:36

the name. It doesn't show you a picture or anything like that

26:38

until you open it up

26:40

and I waited till I got home

26:43

and went straight round my best mates house and

26:45

said to her look at my phone

26:47

and she was like well open

26:49

it let's see what the message says. So we

26:52

opened the message together and it

26:54

was a gentleman

26:57

that was in Australia

26:59

in an orange suit which was obviously

27:01

he was in prison and

27:03

it was an older man and

27:05

he said my name is Kevin Hicks I'm

27:07

your brother I am alive and this

27:09

is

27:09

what I'm in prison for.

27:11

Basically you can think of the worst things

27:13

that he'd put and

27:15

straight away I thought you know this is

27:18

someone again that's got too much time on their

27:20

hands and just trying to make me feel angry

27:23

and the fact

27:25

that I know you're not my brother

27:28

and that did affect me for quite a while because

27:31

again it was just how

27:33

dare you say that sort of thing and but

27:36

I've only got a look at you and know damn

27:38

well you're not my brother. By

27:41

far the most difficult messages to deal with however

27:43

were those that suggested that Terry and Derek

27:46

had a hand in her brother's disappearance.

27:49

They always blame the parents the parents

27:51

have got something to do with it. Your mum

27:53

and your dad have murdered your brother they've

27:55

hidden his body and again it

27:58

was more that I'm getting that.

27:59

sort of troll and

28:01

dealing with my dad dying at the

28:03

time. I had a nervous breakdown, I couldn't cope.

28:07

In all the years that have passed since Alex

28:09

last fought with her brother over who should

28:11

wash the dishes, there has been just

28:13

one occasion where she sensed Kevin

28:16

might have been close by.

28:21

My mum's funeral, and I'll

28:23

never forget this, the

28:25

church was packed inside and out.

28:27

There were so many people there, even

28:30

driving into the church, people were lined

28:32

up because they couldn't get into the church.

28:36

At the end of the ceremony, myself

28:38

and my dad counted the flowers, not

28:41

knowing when another was doing it.

28:44

We went back the next day to take the cards

28:46

off the flowers, and again, we

28:49

didn't know, we was both counting

28:51

the flowers. There was an extra

28:53

bunch of flowers there with no card.

28:57

I

28:58

think it was Kevin. He

29:00

could have been there and no one

29:03

would have noticed. He could have

29:06

changed his appearance and obviously,

29:08

you know, people aren't looking at people on

29:11

a funeral day, they're too

29:13

emotional and

29:15

they're not thinking about, oh my God, is

29:17

his son here, you know, is her son here? Or

29:20

after the funeral, he could have turned

29:23

up, laid the flowers there, and

29:25

then gone again.

29:26

But it was

29:28

just weird, the fact that up when we

29:30

got home, myself and my dad spoke about

29:32

it, and we both said at the same

29:34

time, there's an extra bunch of flowers there. I

29:38

could see in dad's face, he didn't have

29:40

to tell me, but I could see at his face, he was

29:42

thinking the same as me. Hopefully,

29:45

it happened to Kevin that laid those flowers.

29:47

Alex has her own theory about

29:50

what became of Kevin. I've

29:53

always thought to myself that he's

29:55

not in this country, he's in the army navy

29:58

side, and he's got some using something

29:59

to do with cooking on the chef's side.

30:02

I've always thought that, I don't know why, and

30:06

I think it's because I just know how much of a passion

30:08

his cooking was.

30:12

And obviously back then,

30:14

nearly 37 years ago, it was easier

30:16

to get in the army stroke navy than what

30:18

it is nowadays. So there was no

30:20

need to have all the cheques and the birth

30:22

certificates and all that lot, you could just apply,

30:25

that's it, in you go. An

30:29

officer who worked the case at the time and

30:32

has since retired, thinks there's

30:34

little hope left that Kevin could be found alive.

30:37

He believes Alex's brother was murdered,

30:40

a theory allegedly supported

30:42

by an anonymous tip-off to the local paper,

30:45

the Croydon Advertiser.

30:48

I don't know much about that.

30:50

All I've heard about is

30:52

someone phoned up and said, I

30:53

know where his body is, but

30:56

the police haven't said any more about that. And that

30:58

was quite a long time ago.

31:00

Over three and a half decades after Kevin's

31:03

disappearance, what Alex

31:05

wants more than anything else is answers,

31:08

something to bring her the piece that her

31:10

mother and father were denied.

31:16

Someone somewhere

31:17

out there knows what happened

31:19

that night. To

31:21

hold a secret for nearly 37 years,

31:24

if they know what happened, it's

31:27

time to come forward. Contact

31:29

the police, contact missing people, even

31:32

contact myself. I need

31:35

closure. I've

31:37

got 15 years of memory and

31:39

nearly 37 years of searching for

31:42

Kevin. It's time to come forward

31:45

and admit

31:46

or disclose to someone you

31:49

know what happened or you

31:51

know of someone that's told

31:53

you something that happened to Kevin.

31:56

Probably just more hope than anything

31:58

else, but also...

31:59

So if you don't have

32:02

hope, you've got nothing. In

32:04

many cases, it takes just one piece

32:07

of information to lead police

32:09

or family to the answers they crave.

32:13

If you know what happened to Kevin, or you

32:15

remember seeing someone like him on

32:17

March 2nd, 1986, your information could be vital.

32:23

Even if you've never heard of Kevin Hicks before

32:25

listening to this episode, you could still

32:27

help.

32:29

Visit our website, themissingpodcast.org,

32:32

where you'll find more information on this

32:34

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

32:38

There, you can join an online movement,

32:41

one dedicated to supporting the investigations

32:44

for all the cases we've covered, including

32:47

the one you're listening to right now.

32:49

Since the launch of The Missing Podcast,

32:53

over 300 volunteers have joined community

32:55

investigation teams led by Locate

32:57

International. In the

33:00

UK alone, there are over 12,000 long-term

33:03

missing and unidentified

33:05

people. To support

33:07

Locate's efforts and to learn

33:09

more about the vital work they do, visit

33:12

Locate.international, where

33:15

you can join the mission to help locate

33:17

the missing.

33:19

The series is also made in collaboration

33:21

with the charity Missing People, who

33:24

work tirelessly to support the families

33:26

of the missing. Their

33:28

helpline is open to offer support and

33:31

advice if you've been affected by

33:33

anything in this episode. You

33:35

can reach them by calling or texting 116 000 or

33:38

by emailing them at 116 000 at missingpeople.org.uk.

33:49

We cannot say this

33:51

enough, it takes just one person

33:54

with the right information to solve

33:56

any of the cases in this series.

33:59

hopes that the information will soon arrive

34:02

to solve this one. The

34:05

Missing is a podcast from Podomo and

34:07

What's the Story Sounds. It's

34:09

hosted by me, Pandora Sykes.

34:12

The episodes are researched and produced by Jacka

34:14

Kennedy. The executive producers

34:16

for Podomo are Jake Chudnow and

34:18

Matt White.

34:20

And the executive producers for What's the Story

34:22

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