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That's cleanchoice.com slash podcast.

0:24

Most of us are brought up to trust the police.

0:28

We're told as children that if we're ever

0:30

in distress and that our parents aren't

0:32

around, we should look for a policeman.

0:35

That

0:35

if we find ourselves in a dangerous situation,

0:38

the sound of sirens and the sight of

0:40

blue flashing lights means help

0:43

is at hand.

0:45

Don't ever talk to strangers, but

0:47

you can always speak to the police.

0:50

That's how Stephen and Victoria Clark were raised.

0:54

In fact, they had more cause to place

0:56

their faith in the authorities than most, given

0:59

that their parents, Charles and Doris,

1:01

were former police officers themselves.

1:04

But one morning in September 2020, something

1:08

happened which forever changed

1:10

the family's relationship with the authorities.

1:12

Victoria, now

1:15

grown up and living in Northumberland with her husband

1:18

and two young children, heard a knock

1:20

at the door. She excused

1:22

herself from the conference call she was on and

1:25

was greeted by the sight of two

1:28

solemn-faced officers. They

1:30

asked her if she was Victoria or

1:32

the daughter of Charles and Doris

1:35

Clark. She nodded

1:37

and the next words out of their mouths knocked

1:40

her world off its axis. They

1:43

informed

1:43

Victoria that her parents had

1:46

been arrested.

1:49

The

1:49

reason? They were suspects

1:51

in her brother Stephen's murder.

1:54

The same brother who had vanished

1:56

without a trace during a seaside

1:59

walk with his mother. almost three

2:01

decades earlier. I'm

2:03

Pandora Sykes and you're listening to

2:06

The Missing, a Podomo podcast

2:08

series produced by What's the Story Sounds

2:11

and brought to you with help from the charities Missing

2:13

People and Locate International.

2:16

They believe that all of the cases

2:18

in this series could still be

2:21

solved. This

2:23

is The Missing, Stephen

2:25

Clark.

2:30

Victoria remembers the last time she saw

2:32

her brother Stephen, like it was yesterday.

2:38

I had gone up to my mom

2:41

and dad's house to spend Christmas

2:44

with my family. So

2:47

that was December 1992. And

2:53

we just had a regular Christmas, just,

2:56

you know, we enjoyed being together as a family.

2:58

We'd all kind of sit around the table,

3:01

have dinner that lasted for hours, chat,

3:04

you know, drink wine, and just have a really

3:07

nice sort of family time. Stephen

3:10

lived with his parents in their home in Mask

3:12

by the Sea, North Yorkshire.

3:15

Victoria was based in Guildford, about

3:17

six hours away by train, but she made

3:19

regular trips to visit her family and

3:22

looked forward to reuniting with them at Christmas

3:24

time, especially. Stephen

3:26

and I went to the movies, which we did quite

3:28

a lot together. We went to the pub and,

3:30

you know, went for walks on the beach and

3:33

just to hang out and listen to music and

3:35

stuff like that.

3:37

Stephen was 23 and

3:39

studying computing at college.

3:41

Just 14 months separated the siblings

3:43

in age, Stephen being the eldest

3:45

of the two, and the pair of them were

3:48

inseparable.

3:49

One morning, we were sitting in the kitchen

3:51

at my mom and dad's house, sitting around the table,

3:54

and he said to me, if you were gonna

3:56

kill yourself, how would you do it? And

3:59

I looked at him.

3:59

And I said to him in such

4:02

a flippant way, I don't know,

4:04

but if you do it, can I have your high five? And

4:08

we just laughed.

4:10

We had this kind of dark sense of humor

4:12

that we would just, you know,

4:14

probably be a bit inappropriate at times,

4:16

but it was just one of those, for

4:19

me at the time, it was just one of those silly

4:21

conversations. It didn't cross my mind

4:24

that

4:24

that might be something he would

4:27

actually contemplate. And I

4:29

still don't think it's something he would contemplate.

4:32

But of course now I play

4:34

that conversation back

4:37

quite a lot.

4:39

["The

4:45

The The

4:55

For all of my life, really, Stephen

4:57

has been disabled. So when

5:00

he was two, he was involved in

5:02

a road traffic accident. And

5:04

he spent

5:06

six weeks in a coma

5:08

in hospital. And he was

5:10

told, or my parents were told by the

5:12

doctors, that he would never talk,

5:15

he would never walk, that that

5:17

sort of life for him was over." Stephen's

5:21

parents were unwilling to accept their son's

5:23

grim prognosis.

5:25

Against all odds, he recovered

5:27

really well. And, you know, a lot of that was

5:30

down to my mom and dad and

5:32

the amount of support and help

5:34

that they gave him in terms of physio and

5:38

exercise and that sort of

5:40

really positive outlook.

5:42

But that didn't mean there weren't plenty of significant

5:45

obstacles to overcome along the way.

5:47

He couldn't

5:48

use his left arm. He walked with a very pronounced

5:52

limb. So he saw a lot

5:54

of specialists over the years. So he spent a lot

5:56

of time in and out of hospitals,

5:59

you know, trying to...

5:59

treatments or different splints

6:02

or you know sort

6:05

of strengtheners on his arm.

6:07

More than anything Stephen's

6:10

sunny disposition, one shaped

6:12

by his parents seemingly bottomless reserves

6:14

of optimism, helped him and

6:16

his family to persevere.

6:19

Stephen as a person is

6:22

a very enthusiastic

6:24

determined outgoing sort of

6:27

happy-go-lucky and

6:30

had a really positive mindset

6:33

in terms of not letting

6:35

his disability get in his way

6:37

and I think a lot of that was down to how we

6:40

interacted as a family. You

6:42

know even though Stephen had challenges

6:46

we always tried to overcome them and

6:49

tried to make sure that that

6:51

he lived as normal a life as

6:53

possible. But the rest of

6:55

the world wasn't always so kind.

6:59

In the sort of 70s and 80s

7:01

growing up with a disability

7:04

it was a very different world to

7:06

the world that it is now so you

7:08

know we'd sometimes walk down the street

7:10

and I have a very vivid recollection

7:13

of walking down the streets with Stephen

7:15

and being very small

7:18

and having and noticing being

7:20

aware of people staring at

7:22

him and I have a memory of walking

7:25

in front of him

7:27

and sticking my tongue out and pulling faces

7:29

so that people would look at me instead

7:31

of him and

7:33

then another memory of being in a playground

7:35

one time meeting some kids that we hadn't met

7:38

before and one of the

7:40

little boys saying saying to my brother

7:43

what's wrong with you and I kind of

7:45

looked at him and said don't you know that's rude what's

7:47

wrong with you.

7:49

Stephen and Victoria spent the first few

7:51

years of their lives in the UK but

7:53

then their parents decided that a change of scenery

7:56

was in order

7:58

and a drastic one at that My

8:02

dad went to South Africa on a work trip and he called my

8:04

mom and said, this

8:06

is just paradise. And so that was

8:08

the result. That's where we went. I

8:11

think

8:13

at the time my mom and dad were looking,

8:15

they felt like living in the sun and

8:17

being in the sunshine would be beneficial

8:20

for Stephen. Yeah,

8:23

so, and you know, Stephen and

8:25

I became South African citizens.

8:28

So it became home. Stephen

8:31

and Victoria spent their formative years living

8:34

in Spinoone, outside of Johannesburg.

8:38

It was a big adventure, you know, we

8:40

lived in a warm country, we

8:42

had a swimming pool in the garden, we

8:44

had a big group of friends, you

8:47

know, so we had a really good

8:50

childhood. South

8:52

Africa felt less like a new country

8:54

and more like a whole other planet. Every

8:57

day brought something new and exciting to

8:59

explore.

9:01

We'd go on holiday to Durban or to

9:03

Cape Town and I can remember Stephen and I would

9:06

be swimming in the beach during

9:08

the day and then at night we'd kind of walk along

9:10

the beach and there would

9:12

be shark fishermen, you know, people kind

9:15

of bringing sharks in and we

9:17

saw sharks kind of lined up

9:19

on the beach at one point, hammerheads and different

9:22

types of sharks and we'd

9:24

be like, no, there's no way we're getting back in that

9:26

water again tomorrow. But of course the next

9:28

day would come and we'd be back in the water.

9:31

So, you know, lots of

9:33

nice happy memories. Stephen

9:36

and Victoria entered adolescence, their

9:39

differing personalities began to

9:41

emerge.

9:42

Stephen was definitely the louder one, you

9:45

know, he would be much more of an extrovert

9:47

than I would be. He was always

9:50

the louder one, but I think we complemented

9:52

each other pretty well.

10:00

there was still the occasional bump in the

10:02

road. And at the age

10:04

of 13, Stephen moved

10:07

into a special needs school.

10:10

And part of that was because he was

10:12

just struggling academically to keep

10:14

up at the same pace. So

10:19

my parents had spoken to the school

10:21

and had lots of meetings, et cetera, and

10:24

he ended up going into a special

10:27

needs school,

10:29

which was a really difficult time for

10:31

him and a difficult time for all of us

10:33

actually, because he struggled

10:36

in that school. It was, you know, he was English

10:39

speaking South African from an English

10:41

background and the school was Afrikaans.

10:44

And his grasp of the

10:46

Afrikaans language wasn't great.

10:49

So he struggled and he was bullied quite

10:51

a bit in that school. So it

10:54

was quite a difficult

10:57

time for him. But he

11:00

studied and studied and studied.

11:03

And my mom sat with him for

11:05

hours every night doing

11:07

homework and preparing for exams.

11:12

Victoria vividly remembers the day

11:14

the examination results were due. The

11:16

entire household was on tenterhooks, racked

11:19

with nervous anticipation.

11:22

Back

11:22

in those days, they used to post the

11:25

results in the newspaper. So you go and buy

11:27

the newspaper and sort of scan the newspaper

11:29

looking for your name. And

11:32

he was obviously in the newspaper with

11:35

his matricu results. And

11:38

we celebrated that day because

11:41

it had been such a struggle for

11:43

him. He had to put in so much effort

11:45

to do it and to get there, but

11:47

he did. And that's a real

11:50

kind of testament of the type of person

11:53

that he is. The

11:56

family were overjoyed at Stephen's success.

12:00

But several years after graduating, Stephen

12:02

was yet to find work. And it

12:05

wasn't for lack of trying. In

12:08

South Africa, in those days,

12:10

having a disability wasn't very

12:13

accepted. People were kind

12:15

of, you know, not accepted into society

12:18

as much. So it was difficult

12:20

to find work for

12:22

Stephen, even though he had a good group of

12:24

friends and a good social life.

12:27

It was finding work was a different

12:29

story. So my mom and dad decided

12:33

to move to the UK to give him

12:35

a better chance of being able

12:37

to

12:38

live an independent life.

12:40

For Stephen and Victoria, who had grown accustomed

12:43

to having a pool in their back garden, life

12:45

in the UK took some getting used to. It

12:48

was a big culture shock. I mean, when we left South

12:50

Africa, it was, I think, 34 degrees

12:54

or something. And we arrived in

12:56

like

12:57

minus six and snowing. So

12:59

that for a start was a

13:02

big shock.

13:06

And I guess everything was different. You

13:08

know, the culture is different. We

13:11

moved to Guildford because that's

13:13

my dad was working somewhere

13:15

outside of London. And so Guildford

13:18

is a commuter town. So we lived in Guildford.

13:20

And it's just challenging

13:22

because we had to start all over again.

13:25

Nevertheless, they threw themselves wholeheartedly

13:28

into their new community and soon

13:31

became deeply involved with an organisation

13:34

known as FAB.

13:36

So FAB did

13:38

for physically handicapped, able

13:40

bodied. And it was a social

13:43

group where people with disabilities

13:46

could mix with people who didn't have

13:48

disabilities. And just

13:50

to kind of create a more inclusive

13:53

society. And again,

13:55

you know, there was sort of charitable

13:58

aspect. We do fundraising and what has.

13:59

you. But yeah, I just meet

14:02

up and hang out and

14:04

go to events and had a great time.

14:07

But

14:07

then the family's fortunes

14:09

changed. My

14:14

dad lost his job. He

14:16

was made redundant. And

14:19

so my mum and dad took the

14:22

decision to move to the northeast,

14:25

where they're originally from, and

14:27

moved back to his hometown of

14:30

Mask by the Sea. So

14:32

I was working in

14:34

Guildford, so I stayed behind in Guildford.

14:37

And Stephen moved with my mum and dad.

14:40

So again, it was a bit more sort of upheaval,

14:43

you know, and

14:43

more change.

14:47

The move to Mask put over 250

14:49

miles between Stephen and his sister, who

14:52

had found a job as a receptionist in a hotel.

14:55

But the siblings resolved to keep in touch. We

14:58

didn't have mobile phones in those days,

15:00

or email, or anything like that. But

15:03

we would call each other. I would

15:05

call home and speak to my mum and dad, and

15:07

speak to Stephen, and we used to write to each other.

15:10

So I have a collection of letters

15:12

from Stephen that are obviously very precious

15:16

to me now.

15:18

The last Christmas Victoria spent with her

15:20

brother, Stephen filled her in on everything

15:23

that had been going on since they'd last seen each other.

15:25

He was excelling at college, and had recently

15:28

won student of the year. He

15:30

had also joined a brass band, and

15:33

had even found time for a girlfriend. I'd

15:36

gone back to Guildford after the Christmas

15:38

break, and gone back to work. And

15:41

then I had a phone call from my

15:43

mum, or my dad, again I

15:45

can't remember who it was that called me, to

15:48

say,

15:48

don't worry, but

15:51

Stephen hasn't come home, and

15:53

you know, we don't want you to panic, but

15:55

we just want to let you know.

16:01

But not panicking wasn't exactly

16:03

in Victoria's nature. As

16:06

a person, I'm a warrior. So

16:09

I'm pretty sure I would have

16:11

been very worried because

16:13

it's so out of character for Stephen to

16:15

do anything like that, you know? And, you

16:18

know, I mean, Stephen was not a warrior at

16:20

all. And he used to say to me, you know,

16:23

if you worry, you die. And if you don't worry, you still die. So

16:25

why worry? And he could never

16:27

understand why I sort of worried about things. So

16:30

we were very different like that, you

16:32

know?

16:35

And I can remember going back on the train

16:38

and some guy, a stranger,

16:41

had said to me,

16:43

you just look sadder than anyone

16:45

I've ever seen. And,

16:48

yeah, that conversation stuck

16:51

with me.

16:53

Over the phone, Victoria's parents filled

16:55

her in on what had happened.

17:00

So Stephen was supposed to be going to

17:02

a football match with

17:04

my dad. And,

17:06

you know, my dad's a big Middlesbrough supporter.

17:09

Stephen was not. He

17:11

was an Arsenal supporter. So

17:14

he decided not to go. And he decided not

17:16

to go because my dad said to him, if you want

17:19

to come, you can buy your own tickets. And,

17:22

you know, there's been quite a lot of stuff read into

17:24

that that I've read about

17:26

in the press. But, you know, Stephen

17:28

was 23 years old. And,

17:31

you know, part of

17:33

and I do this with my kids, you know, part

17:35

of kind of learning

17:38

about money and independence is that your

17:40

parents don't always pay for you to go

17:42

everywhere. You know, so Stephen

17:44

decided and Stephen was quite tight with money. So

17:47

he was very he was very careful. Like

17:50

I was a splurger. If I had money, I

17:52

would just spend it on

17:54

whatever, you know, as soon as I had it, it was gone. But he was

17:56

a saver. So he

17:58

he was very, very careful. careful with

18:01

his cash. So for whatever reason

18:03

he decided not to go. So he went

18:06

for a walk on

18:08

the beach instead with my

18:10

mom.

18:13

It was the afternoon of December the 28th, a Monday.

18:18

And they walked along the beach from Mask

18:20

to Saltburn and then

18:23

Stephen decided he wanted to go

18:25

into the toilet. It's

18:27

about a mile walk.

18:29

So it's quite understandable to

18:31

want to go to the loo.

18:33

So he went into the toilets

18:36

and my mom decided that, well,

18:38

she would go into the ladies. And

18:41

that is the last that we saw

18:43

of him or that she saw of him.

18:47

When Doris came out, Stephen had

18:49

yet to emerge from the bathroom. So

18:51

she waited and waited

18:57

but her son never reappeared.

19:00

A lot has been made of the fact that my mom didn't

19:03

go in looking for him. But

19:06

again, Stephen was 23 at

19:08

the time. He was fiercely

19:11

independent. And I think because of

19:13

his disability, he was probably

19:15

more independent

19:17

and he would have been mortified

19:20

and really quite annoyed if my mom had

19:22

gone into a public toilet looking

19:25

for him. So hindsight is

19:27

a wonderful thing. And now

19:29

would you go in? Absolutely.

19:31

But that is the story.

19:34

That is what happened. So

19:37

she decided that he must

19:39

have made his way back. And this

19:41

is a walk that they would have

19:43

done hundreds of times. So it

19:45

wasn't a one off walk

19:48

along the beach.

19:51

Exercise was really important for

19:54

Stephen with his disability. So that walk

19:56

on the beach was quite irregular.

19:59

I've walked it with him many times.

20:03

Yeah, so she decided to go back home

20:05

and wait for him or see if he'd already

20:07

gone home, and he just

20:10

didn't come back.

20:15

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21:01

When Doris came home to an empty house, she

21:03

started to worry. I was

21:06

still in Guildford at this point, but obviously,

21:08

you know, it got darker and there's

21:10

still no sign of Stevens, so my mum

21:12

and dad went out looking for him. And

21:15

then obviously when I came up,

21:17

and they'd called the police.

21:20

After years of taking witness statements

21:22

themselves,

21:23

the clerks found themselves on the other

21:25

side of the fence. And as

21:27

many families before them have found, and

21:30

many will after, it is a frustrating

21:33

place to be. The

21:35

clerks were told that as Stevens was an adult,

21:38

he would have to be missing for at least 24 hours

21:41

before they could take action.

21:44

Which is completely unhelpful because, you

21:46

know, those early moments are the times

21:49

when you want that awareness to

21:51

be out there and try

21:53

and find out, you know, where he was

21:55

and what was happening. So

21:58

having to wait for

21:59

a second. specific amount of time is just

22:02

ridiculous, but that is what happens,

22:04

you know?

22:09

So

22:09

yeah, and then when I came up,

22:12

when I got the train from Guildford and

22:15

went back up to the Northeast, we

22:18

went out searching. So one

22:20

of us would stay in the house, you know, waiting

22:22

for the door, waiting for the phone to ring,

22:25

and the rest of us, the other

22:27

two would be out searching, walking

22:29

along the beach with torches, calling

22:32

for him, you know, walking

22:34

around the towns, walking around the streets,

22:36

just trying, looking everywhere,

22:39

just trying to find him.

22:42

Eventually, enough time passed

22:45

for the police to get involved, but

22:47

even then, there was very little

22:49

for them to go on.

22:51

Stephen

22:51

didn't have his wallets, he didn't have

22:54

his glasses, so

22:56

he didn't take anything that he would have

22:58

needed. His bank account has never been

23:00

touched, his national insurance numbers never

23:03

been used, his passport hasn't

23:04

been used, so

23:07

he has just vanished.

23:11

As

23:11

time ticked on, the Clark family

23:13

waited with bated breath for news.

23:16

A break in the case, some sign,

23:20

one single solitary clue that might shed

23:22

some light on what happened to their son.

23:26

But none came. There's

23:29

no evidence, you know,

23:31

there's nothing to suggest that he

23:33

fell into the water, there's nothing to suggest

23:36

that he got on a train, there's just no

23:38

evidence, there's nothing. So

23:41

you're constantly looking, you know, I'd like

23:43

watch, I don't know,

23:45

rugby matches on TV and I'd be scanning

23:48

the crowds and, you know, just you're

23:50

constantly looking, you're looking

23:53

for a face in

23:55

crowds all of the time, just

23:57

hoping that

23:59

you're gonna... spot him.

24:02

Victoria had taken extended leave

24:05

from work to be with her family and

24:07

help with the search for her brother, but

24:09

eventually she had to return

24:11

to Guildford.

24:14

Very strange going back into work,

24:17

into a kind of normal

24:19

environment where nothing is normal anymore,

24:21

you know. So that

24:24

obviously is challenging and I don't

24:26

remember this, but one of my friends said to me

24:29

that when I got back I

24:32

printed off hundreds and hundreds of

24:34

posters, missing posters,

24:36

and I went out and

24:38

stuck them up everywhere and put them into

24:40

shops and train stations. And I

24:42

have absolutely no recollection

24:44

of doing that at all. So

24:47

I think it's, you know, you kind of existing

24:49

in a bit of a bubble.

24:52

What made this case so challenging was

24:55

that there were no obvious leads. Stephen

24:58

had last been seen going into the public toilets

25:02

and it was pretty clear that he was no longer there.

25:05

So had he exited first and

25:07

set off walking home

25:09

and come to harm on the way?

25:12

Had he taken ill and not emerged

25:14

until some time later after

25:17

his mother had already set off walking

25:19

home

25:20

and then come to harm?

25:23

Or had he met someone inside

25:25

the toilets? There

25:27

was no evidence for any scenario.

25:32

Stephen's parents did everything they could

25:34

to keep the search for their son alive, but

25:37

it was harder and harder to get attention.

25:39

Other

25:40

cases would hit the headlines.

25:44

Stephen's case became old news

25:47

and life carried on,

25:48

just without Stephen around.

25:54

to

26:00

find Steven. You know, there's so many newspaper

26:04

reports where they've spoken to the

26:06

press and the media and television

26:08

appeals and just all

26:10

sorts of things to try and find him, which

26:12

obviously makes what happened next even

26:15

more unreal.

26:19

Years passed and Steven's case

26:21

fell further and further down the police's

26:23

list of priorities. The

26:26

media, having run out of angles on the grieving

26:28

parents and their missing son, moved

26:31

on.

26:32

Then, one September morning,

26:35

almost two decades after Steven had

26:37

disappeared, the Clark family

26:39

found themselves suddenly

26:41

thrust into the spotlight once again.

26:45

I guess about two and a half years ago, I

26:48

was on a conference call with

26:50

work and there was a knock at

26:53

my front door. So I went

26:56

to the door to open it and there were two

26:59

detectives standing on the doorstep

27:06

and said to me, can we come in? And

27:09

I had, you know, I mean,

27:10

when you've got two detectives on your door

27:12

asking to come in, you're really panicking

27:15

about what's happened. And I'd

27:17

just dropped my kids at school. So

27:20

I knew they were there and they were safe. And I knew

27:22

my husband was upstairs working

27:24

in his office. And

27:28

I thought, God, something's happened to my mom and

27:30

dad. So I was already kind of on

27:32

edge.

27:34

Anyway, they walked in and they said to me, look,

27:38

there's no easy way to say this. So we might

27:40

as well just come out with it. We've

27:43

just arrested your parents

27:45

on suspicion of murdering Steven.

27:51

Victoria's heart dropped into her stomach.

27:55

Had she been given a million guesses as

27:57

to why the police were at her door,

27:59

She could never have imagined this. I

28:03

mean, it's, you kind of,

28:05

you see this kind of thing happening on

28:07

TV, but when it happens to you, it's,

28:10

I felt like the whole world was spinning.

28:13

I just, I couldn't believe

28:16

what I was hearing. For

28:19

her parents to be accused of murdering their

28:21

son. A son who was a child

28:23

they had accompanied on countless hospital

28:25

trips and physio visits. A

28:28

son they had uprooted their entire lives

28:30

for, not once, but

28:32

twice.

28:34

A son they had always given total love

28:36

and devotion. It wasn't

28:38

just nonsensical, it was deeply,

28:41

deeply offensive to Victoria. And

28:43

her shock soon turned to

28:45

anger.

28:47

So my first response was,

28:50

you know, where are my mom

28:52

and dad? Are they okay? Because of

28:54

course I know that

28:57

this whole thing is ridiculous. There's absolutely

28:59

no way they would

29:02

hurt Stephen because of

29:04

the family that we have and the relationships

29:06

that we have. So it was just utterly

29:09

unreal. Anyway, they told me that

29:11

they'd been arrested and taken

29:13

to police cells for

29:16

interviewing.

29:17

And then they said to me, we recognize

29:20

that we never spoke to you at the time when Stephen

29:22

went missing. So are you okay

29:25

to do an interview now?

29:27

And I said, yes, I can, of course.

29:29

Do you want me to come down to the

29:32

station? And they said, no, we've

29:34

got the equipment here. We can do it here.

29:37

Victoria sat down at her kitchen table

29:39

with the two officers where she was questioned

29:41

for over four hours. It

29:43

was just horrific. You know, in the whole

29:46

time I'm panicking, thinking, well,

29:48

I want to talk to my mom and dad. Like, how

29:50

are they? How are they coping? They're in their

29:53

80s now.

29:54

This is just

29:56

a horrific shock.

29:58

So it was the... beginning of

30:01

a very long nightmare.

30:06

Not long into the interview, the subject

30:08

turned to Victoria's parents and

30:10

whether there was any history of violence in

30:12

the household.

30:14

They went about this questioning,

30:16

you know, so many times,

30:20

asking about my childhood and that my mum

30:22

and dad were violent, which

30:24

is absolutely not the

30:27

case and couldn't have been

30:29

further from the truth. So

30:32

it was, you know, it was actually

30:34

quite a terrifying experience. I

30:36

was really quite traumatised by this and

30:38

I woke up for many,

30:41

many months hearing

30:43

the words that the police officers

30:45

had said to me in the middle

30:47

of the night.

30:49

In Victoria's eyes, there was no way

30:51

her parents could be involved

30:53

and she was insistent that nothing from her

30:56

interview would give them reason to

30:58

think otherwise. It

31:00

was just awful. They

31:03

just went on and on and on and

31:05

on. And at the same time,

31:08

I found out later, my parents

31:10

were being interrogated in a police

31:12

station and on

31:15

the basis of what? I mean,

31:18

you know, it was just the most

31:20

horrific situation and

31:23

I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

31:28

How had this happened?

31:30

How had such an unassuming, respected

31:32

couple, former police officers no

31:34

less, who had already endured more

31:37

than their fair share of tragedy, come

31:39

to find themselves accused of

31:41

such a heinous

31:42

crime?

31:44

Sometimes it can be explained by a piece of evidence

31:46

uncovered in 1999.

31:56

in

32:00

his disappearance. From

32:02

what I can gather, the strength of this arrest

32:05

was based on that anonymous letter.

32:08

But this person is not known to our family

32:11

and didn't know Stephen.

32:14

Roughly 12 weeks after Charles

32:16

and Doris were arrested by the police, the

32:18

writer of the anonymous letter came forward,

32:22

20 years after they had written it. The

32:26

letter even addressed to the police force, his

32:29

name is wrong, it went to a different police

32:31

force in Gisborough, which is not the

32:34

police that were dealing with it. So why

32:37

it was taken so seriously, I really

32:39

don't know, but it has devastated

32:42

our family.

32:43

When the police finally left Victoria's

32:46

home, she immediately tried to get

32:48

in touch with her parents. They were still

32:50

in custody. Eventually

32:52

at 10 o'clock that evening, after spending

32:55

an entire day fending off accusations, that

32:58

they had murdered their own flesh and blood, they

33:00

were released on bail and phoned their

33:02

daughter.

33:03

So I spoke to them then

33:05

and they were just in a state

33:08

of shock and they'd been pitted

33:10

against each other as well. You know,

33:13

it was just awful. The way they were treated

33:15

was diabolical. My parents

33:18

are actually in the process of a

33:20

formal complaint against the police through

33:23

their solicitor and I think

33:25

that's absolutely the right thing to do.

33:28

But

33:28

Charles and Doris' ordeal didn't end

33:30

there.

33:31

They then got a warrant to

33:34

search my mom and dad's house

33:36

and garden and then they

33:38

turned up one morning and told

33:41

my mom and dad that they had two

33:43

hours, I think, to get out of the house

33:46

because they were sending in forensics

33:48

and diggers and what have you. So

33:51

I mean at one point there were about nine police

33:53

vehicles outside my mom and dad's house

33:56

and a forensics tent up in the garden.

33:58

They dug up the garden. looking

34:01

for who knows what and of course

34:04

didn't find anything. But

34:06

this was in the middle of COVID as well,

34:08

so we were in the middle of lockdown.

34:11

My mum and dad had to go and stay in a

34:13

hotel. They

34:15

couldn't come and stay with me even though I wanted

34:17

them to because it was against

34:19

the rules and against the law. And

34:22

they just didn't want any further kind

34:24

of police scrutiny if we broke

34:27

the rules by them coming to stay here with me. So

34:30

they

34:30

ended up staying in a hotel

34:33

locally and they

34:35

were there for about five days. So

34:37

just turfed out of the house and

34:40

then had everything dug up and rummaged

34:43

through. So it was

34:46

a very, very difficult time.

34:49

And of course they didn't find anything. They

34:52

took my mum and dad's mobile phones

34:54

and iPads and they kept them for

34:56

months and months and months. Like

34:58

what on earth do they think they're going to find on them?

35:02

Unsurprisingly, the arrests

35:04

sent the media into a frenzy. Charles

35:08

and Doris couldn't step outside without having

35:10

multiple cameras and microphones shoved

35:12

into their faces. A press pack

35:15

descended on Victoria's home.

35:17

Nothing was off limits, not

35:19

even her children. My

35:22

son was 13 at the time

35:24

and he was contacted by a journalist.

35:27

And it was awful.

35:30

I mean, luckily he just kind of put

35:32

the phone down and then told me about it.

35:35

So the next time they called, I

35:37

answered. And then I

35:40

contacted the editor of the

35:42

newspaper and they sent a round, Robin

35:44

round, telling them not to contact us again.

35:47

Part of the comments that I would read online

35:49

were like, well, where's Steven's sister?

35:52

Why isn't she speaking out? Why isn't she

35:54

standing up for her mum and dad? And

35:56

all of this kind of stuff, which was very

35:59

difficult.

35:59

I was trying to protect my children

36:03

because I didn't want them to go to school and have

36:05

a hard time or you know be bullied

36:07

and what have you so it's kind of it's a bit of a

36:09

balancing act isn't it you're trying to you're

36:12

trying to get everything right and sometimes feeling

36:14

like you're getting everything wrong.

36:16

Rather than strengthening their credentials

36:19

and reputation to casual onlookers the

36:21

fact that Doris and Charles were both former

36:24

police officers caused some

36:26

to speculate that they had the necessary

36:28

experience to cover their

36:30

tracks.

36:33

Yeah I think you know in a missing

36:35

person's case there's so

36:37

much mystery isn't there I can

36:39

understand people wanting

36:41

to talk about it and wanting to

36:45

understand what's happened so I

36:47

get that but

36:49

what is difficult is negative

36:52

comments and you

36:54

know my husband said to me stop reading the comments

36:56

just stop reading them but I

36:59

couldn't I kind of felt compelled to read

37:01

them and you know hearing people

37:04

saying awful things about our family

37:08

is difficult you know and you know

37:10

of course there's a lot of support as well and

37:12

the support is wonderful and it's and

37:14

it really means a lot

37:17

but those negative comments can be so hurtful

37:20

because people don't know us and

37:22

they don't know the situation.

37:28

Stephen's parents remained under investigation

37:30

for months after their arrests. In

37:33

the end no hard evidence linking

37:35

them to any wrongdoing was ever found.

37:38

Whilst the police still believe that Stephen has

37:41

come to harm there is no

37:43

evidence to warrant any charges against

37:45

his parents. The

37:47

clerks were overcome with relief

37:50

but they struggled to distance themselves

37:53

from the internet history that accused

37:55

them of being involved in their son's

37:57

disappearance. We've

37:59

tried to sort

37:59

of get life back to normal

38:02

but it will never go back to normal because

38:05

all of those news reports are still out there,

38:07

they're still in the media. If you google Stephen

38:11

or if you google my parents all this awful

38:14

stuff and totally unfounded

38:16

and unnecessary all of this stuff

38:19

comes up and I feel very angry

38:21

about it because what the police should have been doing

38:24

is putting their resources on finding Stephen

38:27

and they didn't. The

38:28

whole experience shattered the family's

38:30

confidence in the authorities.

38:33

I have lost all faith in

38:36

the police. The police

38:37

are the people that you are supposed to be able

38:39

to go to when you need help

38:41

or if you have a problem and you know

38:43

let's face it you know in a missing person's

38:46

case we all know

38:47

that the police have a job to do and you

38:51

know

38:52

ultimately I guess families are going to

38:54

be under scrutiny when somebody disappears

38:57

and

38:57

goes missing but the total

38:59

lack of empathy and kindness

39:02

and just that sort of you

39:05

know guilty until proven innocent

39:07

type approach is unacceptable.

39:11

What frustrated Victoria more than anything

39:13

else was having this massive sudden

39:16

influx of interest in her brother's disappearance

39:19

only for all of it to be aimed incorrectly

39:22

at her parents.

39:24

The one positive thing that could have come

39:27

from all of that media attention would be actually

39:29

finding out what happened to Stephen and where

39:31

he was but it didn't you know

39:34

all of that negative media

39:36

attention

39:36

and still no news

39:38

of Stephen. Now

39:41

more than anything

39:42

Victoria wants to redirect the public's

39:44

attention towards her brother. I

39:47

want to set the record straight you

39:49

know I want people to be searching for Stephen

39:51

I want them to know that he came from a good home

39:54

that he comes from a family that love

39:56

him and care about him and just

39:58

want him to come back.

39:59

implore anyone who knows anything

40:02

to come forward.

40:05

I would like to say to please come

40:07

forward and, you know, just

40:10

talk about anything

40:13

that you might have seen or anything that

40:15

you can remember about Stephen's

40:17

disappearance. Because

40:20

you know, everybody who has a missing person

40:22

says this, but it doesn't

40:24

matter how insignificant you think it is,

40:27

something

40:28

might make

40:31

sense and might be, you know,

40:33

a lead that can be followed up on. Stephen

40:36

being missing has left a huge hole

40:39

in our lives. So

40:45

anything that anyone can do to

40:47

help us find him

40:49

would be amazing.

41:00

In many cases, it takes just one piece

41:03

of information to lead police

41:05

or family to the answers they crave. If

41:09

you

41:09

know what happened to Stephen, or

41:11

you remember seeing someone like him

41:14

on December 28th, 1992, your information could be vital.

41:21

Even if you've never heard of Stephen Clarke before

41:23

listening to this episode, you could

41:25

still help. Visit

41:27

our website, themissingpodcast.org,

41:30

where you'll find more information on this

41:33

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

41:36

There,

41:37

you can join an online movement, one

41:40

dedicated to supporting the investigations

41:42

for all the cases we've covered, including

41:45

the one you're listening to right now.

41:48

Since the launch of The Missing Podcast,

41:51

over 300 volunteers have joined community

41:53

investigation teams led by Locate

41:55

International. In

41:57

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

42:01

missing and unidentified people.

42:05

To support Locate's efforts and

42:07

to learn more about the vital work they

42:09

do, visit locate.international

42:13

where you can join the mission to help

42:15

locate the missing. The

42:17

series is also made in collaboration

42:20

with the charity Missing People, who

42:22

work tirelessly to support the families

42:24

of the missing. The

42:27

helpline is open to offer support and

42:29

advice if you've been affected by

42:31

anything in this episode. You

42:33

can reach them by calling or

42:35

texting 116 000 or by emailing them

42:37

at 116 000 at

42:41

missingpeople.org.uk. We

42:48

cannot say this enough, it takes

42:50

just one person with the right

42:52

information to solve any of the

42:55

cases in this series. Victoria

42:58

hopes that the information will soon arrive

43:01

to solve this one.

43:03

The Missing is a podcast from Podemo

43:05

and What's the Story Sounds. It's

43:08

hosted by me, Pandora Sykes. The

43:10

episodes are researched and produced by Jacka

43:12

Kennedy. The executive producers

43:15

for Podemo are Jake Chudnow and

43:17

Matt White,

43:18

and the executive producers for What's the Story

43:20

Sounds are Darrell Brown and

43:22

Sophie Ellis.