Deceased/Not Found UK - Steven Clark, 23, disabled, Saltburn, Dec 1992

[ZaZara]

Thankyou for your reply, I'm just trying to figure it out but something doesn't sit right and I have a bad feeling about the whole thing. There is definitely something really strange about this, as a mother you would never forget what happened that day, you would remember every second replayed over & over in your head. I have a SN son, he's 28 now, but I think you would not have just 'gone home and put the kettle on' without searching for a very long time & gone into those toilets, he was disabled, as a mother surely you would of suspected he was having some difficulty and gone into those toilets to check? And why did she wait until after 6pm when the father came home to go out searching?

Because not every disabled person is the same and needs the same level of care.

 

[Anon49]

Because not every disabled person is the same and needs the same level of care.

I myself would of definitely gone in to check

 

[astheworldfallsdown]

Thankyou for your reply, I'm just trying to figure it out but something doesn't sit right and I have a bad feeling about the whole thing. There is definitely something really strange about this, as a mother you would never forget what happened that day, you would remember every second replayed over & over in your head. I have a SN son, he's 28 now, but I think you would not have just 'gone home and put the kettle on' without searching for a very long time & gone into those toilets, he was disabled, as a mother surely you would of suspected he was having some difficulty and gone into those toilets to check? And why did she wait until after 6pm when the father came home to go out searching?

I agree.
I don't think anyone would just walk away and leave another person inside a public toilet, regardless of their abilities, age or gender. No one is immune to an assault, an accident or even getting locked in a cubicle in a public toilet.
JMO

 

[Alyce]

I myself would of definitely gone in to check

Everyone I have spoken with or comments I have read on line, has said the same as you.

To me it has nothing to do with Steven having a disability - even for a completely healthy person with no problems or issues, it would be basic common sense and decency just to make sure the person is ok before happily walking off back home to make a cuppa.

 

[Skigh]

I agree.
I don't think anyone would just walk away and leave another person inside a public toilet, regardless of their abilities, age or gender. No one is immune to an assault, an accident or even getting locked in a cubicle in a public toilet.
JMO

Especially if the person was

Everyone I have spoken with or seen comment from online has said the same as you.

To me it has nothing to do with Steven having a disability - even for a completely healthy person with no problems or issues, it would be basic common sense and decency just to make sure the person is ok before happily walking off back home to make a cuppa.

It is even more unbelievably that a policewoman would not go and check the the loos.

 

[Anon49]

Especially if the person was


It is even more unbelievably that a policewoman would not go and check the the loos.

Especially if the person was


It is even more unbelievably that a policewoman would not go and check the the loos.

Exactly right! I totally agree with you.
Also, forgive me for thinking this, but as the parents are/were both in the police force they would maybe have more of an idea how to hide/divert evidence to deflect blame from them?

 

[fridaybaker]

I don’t believe for one minute that someone remembers seeing Steven on a specific date at a specific time. I defy anyone on here to tell me what they were doing on that day at that time, and describe every random stranger that they saw. Unless you can tie it to something massively significant like you were getting married or climbing Mount Everest, your brain just doesn’t have the capacity to remember every person you’ve seen every single day of your life.

IMO it’s either someone who just wants in on the action or a bit of police misinformation designed to draw out some truth from elsewhere.

I believe what happened was that immediately after Mr. Clark went missing, the person remembered she'd just seen him the day before or so, actually passed right by him. He is remarkable in that he has a disability which affects his gait. She thought it was him and even confirmed it with family members, but didn't think important to the investigation. (As an aside, I know a lot of others here think that is strange, but I don't think so. I wouldn't think that, just because I'd seen someone before they apparently disappeared, it would have anything to do with the disappearance.)

Sometime later, much later, she realized, or was told, that her seeing him immediately before he disappeared could be significant, so she told police. I really don't think it's strange at all.

 

[fridaybaker]

Parents arrested over suspected murder of son astonished as police search garden

The elderly parents arrested over the suspected murder of their son who vanished 28 years ago were “amazed” when police searched their property.

Doris and Charles Clark, both former police officers themselves, were home yesterday after their local force spent five days scouring the back garden.

David, 78, said: “I am amazed at the search, I have no idea at all why they did it.

"But I can’t say anything more because I am still under arrest and on police bail.”

"Former police officers themselves"?!!! This is interesting information....

 

[fridaybaker]

I'm very curious about that letter. But it doesn't sound like they've turned up a body yet. I'm not clear what motive the parents had for killing their son either. I mean it's always possible. People do horrible things all the time so I won't be terribly surprised if a missing son turned up in the garden. I'm on WS after all. But I also just don't feel especially suspicious of these parents either just because Steven is missing.

I read a story recently about a woman who had killed her 3 yo and kept her in a trunk in the closet for years. She has a lot of weird and suspicious behaviors that you certainly noticed after the body was reported. But I'm just not hearing anything off about this couple from any anonymous sources.

It seems really odd to me to arrest a couple over a letter you'd had for decades. What could have possibly changed that suddenly require an arrest? You'd think they had a really good reason but it just all implies incompetency on some level and some sort of gross over reaction after the fact. Not everyone who goes missing is buried in the backyard. If the letter had anything of real substance why now? I really thought they were going to find Steven based on their actions. But still no update of finding a body. Nothing. Just requests for people to dredge the recesses of their memories. People can't even accurately assess something they saw just after the fact. Certainly not decades later.

I sure wish someone would put some efforts into more recent cold cases where I live like Jenna Van Gelderen. They totally half assed that. That's the problem with only putting the effort in a few decades later.

I think perhaps this has come up now is simply that someone went over the cold cases and saw that there were quite a few holes in the original investigation. Why the holes? Maybe simply because, as posters have stated here, and including the one who is a neighbor of these people, the couple "seem like nice people". I think very few people will contemplate that many, many, people who are "nice", aren't terribly grounded in any absolute truth; hence, are likely quite capable of terrible things if tempted or pushed enough.

Apparently, even the neighbor who think these people are innocent and are just regular, "nice" joes, has stated that the couple have made comments about wondering how long they'll "have to take care of him", meaning the missing son. Wow. As difficult as taking care of a disabled family member can be, voicing that to neighbors does not seem very loving. I have a severely disabled family member who has needed significant care for many years now and likely many more, but no one -no one- would contemplate talking like that. This family member is loved. Mr. Clark? Maybe not so much.

To the police, to neighbors, to the bowling club, to most people, though, the Clark's are "nice people". Hmmm.

 

[Skigh]

The comments about how long they would have to look after him might not be a direct quote of what the parents said .It might have been taken out of context and the parents discussing what might happen to Steven when they were not fit enough to care for him .

 

[Alyce]

I believe what happened was that immediately after Mr. Clark went missing, the person remembered she'd just seen him the day before or so, actually passed right by him. He is remarkable in that he has a disability which affects his gait. She thought it was him and even confirmed it with family members, but didn't think important to the investigation. (As an aside, I know a lot of others here think that is strange, but I don't think so. I wouldn't think that, just because I'd seen someone before they apparently disappeared, it would have anything to do with the disappearance.)

Sometime later, much later, she realized, or was told, that her seeing him immediately before he disappeared could be significant, so she told police. I really don't think it's strange at all.

I think the reason most people found it strange that the witness did not say anything to the police was because the witness saw Steven at a later time than the reported last sighting given by his mother, of 3pm in Saltburn.

 

[Anon49]

I think perhaps this has come up now is simply that someone went over the cold cases and saw that there were quite a few holes in the original investigation. Why the holes? Maybe simply because, as posters have stated here, and including the one who is a neighbor of these people, the couple "seem like nice people". I think very few people will contemplate that many, many, people who are "nice", aren't terribly grounded in any absolute truth; hence, are likely quite capable of terrible things if tempted or pushed enough.

Apparently, even the neighbor who think these people are innocent and are just regular, "nice" joes, has stated that the couple have made comments about wondering how long they'll "have to take care of him", meaning the missing son. Wow. As difficult as taking care of a disabled family member can be, voicing that to neighbors does not seem very loving. I have a severely disabled family member who has needed significant care for many years now and likely many more, but no one -no one- would contemplate talking like that. This family member is loved. Mr. Clark? Maybe not so much.

To the police, to neighbors, to the bowling club, to most people, though, the Clark's are "nice people". Hmmm.

I totally agree with this. My ex husbands father and mother on first meeting and on the surface were 'nice people', go to church 2 to 3 times a week, help the needy in the community, have paritioners over for tea, but under the surface he used to beat his wife regularly, smashing her head against the fireplace, beat his children, once so badly he knocked his young daughter to the floor knocking all her teeth out, went out all day drinking leaving the children alone outside the pub in the dark and the cold and even once walked one of his daughters friends home (aged 15 at the time) and on the way tried to force himself onto her. So I do believe even the 'nicest' people are capable of putting on such a front no one would suspect or point a finger of blame towards them.

 

[fridaybaker]

The comments about how long they would have to look after him might not be a direct quote of what the parents said .It might have been taken out of context and the parents discussing what might happen to Steven when they were not fit enough to care for him .

Very possible. Thanks for pointing that out! Context is everything, and it's often hard to know second, third, and fourth-hand.

 

[fridaybaker]

I think the reason most people found it strange that the witness did not say anything to the police was because the witness saw Steven at a later time than the reported last sighting given by his mother, of 3pm in Saltburn.

Maybe so. However, I just don't think, if I were in the situation, I would have paid that much attention to the timing, especially since the times were so close to each other. I'd just sort of assume that I saw him earlier, (Now, if I'd seen him six days later than the last sighting, that's another thing.)

I'm a generalist, though. "3pm" to me, under many situations, such as out for a walk and going to the loo, would likely mean anything between 2 and 4pm. I could easily say in looking back, in the case of the mother, that we entered the loo at 3, when I wouldn't have known the time very precisely at all, and I could also easily think, in the case of the witness, that the mother wouldn't mean or know exactly 3pm, but sometime around that generally.

 

[fridaybaker]

I totally agree with this. My ex husbands father and mother on first meeting and on the surface were 'nice people', go to church 2 to 3 times a week, help the needy in the community, have paritioners over for tea, but under the surface he used to beat his wife regularly, smashing her head against the fireplace, beat his children, once so badly he knocked his young daughter to the floor knocking all her teeth out, went out all day drinking leaving the children alone outside the pub in the dark and the cold and even once walked one of his daughters friends home (aged 15 at the time) and on the way tried to force himself onto her. So I do believe even the 'nicest' people are capable of putting on such a front no one would suspect or point a finger of blame towards them.

Boy, do we hear these stories all the time. The people who are normal, even wonderful, on the surface are anything but behind closed doors. I have experience with this in my own family, although the people -yes, two of them!- aren't violent. However, they are VERY, VERY different people to some family in their lives than they are to their "patio" -the people they want to impress. Completely different, and it always amazes me - the number of people who are fooled.

 

[ZaZara]

Missing man 'on his way to parents suspected of killing him he vanished'

Missing Steven Clark appeared to be “on his way home” to the parents suspected of his murder, when he was seen by a new witness on the day he vanished 28 years ago.

The witness came forward to say that she saw Steven between 3pm and 4pm in Marske-by-the-Sea, North Yorks – a short distance from the house – on December 28, 1992.

Lead investigator Det Chief Insp Shaun Page said: “I now believe Steven was still alive – minutes from his home.

“Obviously one option is that he was on his way home – there is a likelihood that he was – and this is really significant in terms of what happened to Steven next.”

The cold case review has established that Steven was happy at the time he disappeared, with a new a girlfriend and job interviews lined up.

Steven, who walked with a pronounced limp as a result of a car accident when he was two, was heading in the direction of The Ship Inn when the new witness saw him.

DCI Page would like to establish if he went into the pub that day.

BBM

 

[ZaZara]

Steven Clarke: police puzzle together victim's movements on the day he was murdered


Following this sighting, Detective Chief Inspector Shaun Page, who is leading the investigation, believes that Mr Clark was on his way to his home address when he was seen, and that he was alive between 3pm and 4pm and in Marske.

Detective Chief Inspector Shaun Page said: “I’m pleased with the information that we have so far, as we’re building up a picture of what Steven was like and the relationships that he had with those around him.

“The public is key to this case, and by ensuring people living and working in Marske see our appeal through the digivan, we will raise awareness across the whole community.

“The potential sighting of Steven is absolutely key for the investigation and forms the basis of our appeal on the ground.”


BBM


More details about Mr Clark and his life at link.

 

[ZaZara]

New details emerge on Steven Clark as police step up murder hunt

Now the senior detective leading the investigation has thanked the public for their response, a van emblazoned with the latest appeal for information has begun driving around the streets of Marske.

While tens of thousands of people have seen the police appeals online, the investigation team wants to get into the heart of the community with the digital billboard.

The focus is on a potential new sighting of Steven on Marske High Street on Monday December 28, 1992.


BBM

 

[Alyce]

Muriel Brand School, Gauteng, South Africa


MURIEL BRAND SCHOOL

CRITERIA FOR ADMISSION

Muriel Brand School is a school for learners with special education needs. These learners experience barriers to learning and development. The school was originally designated to cater for learners with cerebral palsy. Overtime, the school has developed the specialized expertise required to meet the needs of other forms of neurological disabilities, including learners with specific learning disability.

Currently, in line with education White Paper 6 on Special Needs Education (to be read with GDE Circular 31/2009), the school will also consider admission for any learner who experiences barriers to learning that cannot be addressed in the mainstream school system.
(It must, however, always be clear that it is in the learner’s best interest to be placed in this school ).

Muriel Brand School

 

[Alyce]

Brief summary

Steven Clark

1969 Born August 30, Colchester, Essex
1971 - Age 2. Lived near Edinburgh. Involved in road accident in Kirkliston, hit by truck, seriously injured.
1974 - 1979 age 5 - 11 - At school in Kimbolten, Cambridgeshire
1980 - 81 - Age 11 Moved to Gauteng, South Africa. Attended Muriel Brand School.
1990 - 91 - Age 21 - Returned to UK. Lived in Guildford, Surrey.
1991 Summer - Age 22 - Moved to Marske
1992 Age 23. December 28. Disappeared from Marske.