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

[Anon49]

Cleveland Police

Some interesting comments on here, in particular the one regarding the garage...which I've had my suspicions about from the start?

 

[ZaZara]

Cleveland Police

Some interesting comments on here, in particular the one regarding the garage...which I've had my suspicions about from the start?

خرائط ‪Google‬‏‏

The garage is part of the construction of the house, it isn't a separate building. The house is semi-detached. The ground floor of neighbours' home has the same (mirrored) construction.

A while ago, it was mentioned the family made a terrace after Steven disappeared and the joke was that he would be under it.

IMHO this gossip is going around from one place to the other. Yet the police were searching at the house for quite a while and sofar came up with nothing.

 

[Tortoise]

I think you can see from neighbouring houses, (take a meander along the road on google streetview), what the original footprint of the house was likely to have been. I doubt they were originally built with integral garages.

 

[Anon49]

I think you can see from neighbouring houses, (take a meander along the road on google streetview), what the original footprint of the house was likely to have been. I doubt they were originally built with integral garages.

Also as mentioned earlier in the thread the garage changed to a residential space at some point, hopefully the police would have access to the original footprint and would be able to see what has been changed over the years including new foundations?

 

[Anon49]

خرائط ‪Google‬‏‏

The garage is part of the construction of the house, it isn't a separate building. The house is semi-detached. The ground floor of neighbours' home has the same (mirrored) construction.

A while ago, it was mentioned the family made a terrace after Steven disappeared and the joke was that he would be under it.

IMHO this gossip is going around from one place to the other. Yet the police were searching at the house for quite a while and sofar came up with nothing.

I don't quite know if any search was done regarding new foundations inside however?

 

[elliefant]

I think you can see from neighbouring houses, (take a meander along the road on google streetview), what the original footprint of the house was likely to have been. I doubt they were originally built with integral garages.

I agree @Tortoise. The house and its semi-detached neighbour have both had (slightly different) two storey extensions. Some other neighbours have not had extensions built. It was previously mentioned that the ground floor of the Clarks’ extension was previously a garage (c2011 on Google street view) but has now been converted to living accommodation. Some of the other houses now have attached garages, some have detached garages, and some have no garage, so I don’t think the garage is original to the house.

 

[ZaZara]

I think you can see from neighbouring houses, (take a meander along the road on google streetview), what the original footprint of the house was likely to have been. I doubt they were originally built with integral garages.

The original gossip has it that the parents put up a new garage after Steven went missing. Google streetview shows a house with a two storey extension, the roof included.

The neighbours have done something slightly different, but the roof appears to have the same tiles. One might assume that it was done at the same time, date unknown, and that this involved an architect, builders, a lot of planning, money, coordination and planning permission. Records may show.

What it doesn't look like is a hiding place for remains of a murder victim. If this was a planned murder, it would have been better to wait until the work was under way and dig a bit deeper during the night. If a murder, or a deadly accident happened on the spur of the moment, a different location would have been necessary. Perhaps even another garage or building that was under construction.

IMHO this is a rumour that goes nowhere and it should be regarded as such.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Apologies in advance, this is not a sensitive post.

But it must be a big dilemma - how do you dispose of a grown man's body, without it being found? The age his parents were at the time, if they were responsible, I can hardly see his mum helping his dad with the physical (if not at home, hidden) lifting, digging etc.

If he is at the home somewhere, how could you get a builder to build a permanent construction of some kind without them noticing something amiss? But equally, how could you build it alone?

He was possibly taken out to sea (but this isnt Fools and Horses..). Or, he must be at that address somewhere. But why havent they found him?

What theories do you guys have re where he could be?

 

[Sarahlou]

Apologies in advance, this is not a sensitive post.

But it must be a big dilemma - how do you dispose of a grown man's body, without it being found? The age his parents were at the time, if they were responsible, I can hardly see his mum helping his dad with the physical (if not at home, hidden) lifting, digging etc.

If he is at the home somewhere, how could you get a builder to build a permanent construction of some kind without them noticing something amiss? But equally, how could you build it alone?

He was possibly taken out to sea (but this isnt Fools and Horses..). Or, he must be at that address somewhere. But why havent they found him?

What theories do you guys have re where he could be?

His mother would have been about 53 at the time? I think it's possible that she could have helped. I hope we find out some answers at some point

 

[Anon49]

Apologies in advance, this is not a sensitive post.

But it must be a big dilemma - how do you dispose of a grown man's body, without it being found? The age his parents were at the time, if they were responsible, I can hardly see his mum helping his dad with the physical (if not at home, hidden) lifting, digging etc.

If he is at the home somewhere, how could you get a builder to build a permanent construction of some kind without them noticing something amiss? But equally, how could you build it alone?

He was possibly taken out to sea (but this isnt Fools and Horses..). Or, he must be at that address somewhere. But why havent they found him?

What theories do you guys have re where he could be?

His mother will of been 53 and his father 50 so not old by any means and given they were both in the police force probably quite fit also.
It's just hard to believe he didn't make it home as he was literally only about 2 - 5 minutes walk away from his house. And usually people, especially disabled, don't just 'go missing ' without being found (unless they want to, but that would take some planning I suspect) unless something sinister has happened to them.

 

[Alyce]

Apologies in advance, this is not a sensitive post.

But it must be a big dilemma - how do you dispose of a grown man's body, without it being found? The age his parents were at the time, if they were responsible, I can hardly see his mum helping his dad with the physical (if not at home, hidden) lifting, digging etc.

If he is at the home somewhere, how could you get a builder to build a permanent construction of some kind without them noticing something amiss? But equally, how could you build it alone?

He was possibly taken out to sea (but this isnt Fools and Horses..). Or, he must be at that address somewhere. But why havent they found him?

What theories do you guys have re where he could be?

I do think it could be done. He was 50 at that time. The concrete breaker would do most of the heavy work.
Not sure what the rules were back then, but nowadays, it's a 1 metre minimum / 3 metres max for this type of foundation. Concrete followed by blockwork to fill in the trench.
It is by far the safest place to use. They would never wake up to the headline about the man and his dog or the bones washed in with the tide. Only requirement would be to stay living there for the rest of their lives.
Even with the latest search, the police have not checked that floor ( far as we know ) as they don't have sufficient grounds ( excuse pun ) to do so. And without drilling through there is no way they can detect a body at that depth, under concrete, after so many years.
But, from the other side - you would have to be very cold blooded to be able to do that and then spend the rest of your life in that house, knowing what is underneath your living room floor.

So I'm not totally sure. Possibly could have used a different place for burial.

 

[ZaZara]

I think you can see from neighbouring houses, (take a meander along the road on google streetview), what the original footprint of the house was likely to have been. I doubt they were originally built with integral garages.

I took another look. IMHO various houses were built with integral garages. They have a similar floorprint, only some details at the front differ.
At a later time, the entire street went for double glazing and low maintenance plastic. They also replaced the garage doors. Did they hide the original front doors (except one that I can see) behind a new outer entrance? Or was this part of the original construction? A few houses have a flat roof over the extension.
You can still see front doors through the windows.
Being so near to the sea, this makes sense.

There is one house up the street that kept the original garage doors. Look at the black hinges. They also went to great lengths and cost to preserve the stained glass windows, these were integrated in the double glazing (with exception of the new entrance obviously).


This is the house:



IMHO (repeat button), the garage was part of the original construction. The rumour that the Clarks built it to hide something underneath the floor is bogus.

 

[Anon49]

I took another look. IMHO various houses were built with integral garages. They have a similar floorprint, only some details at the front differ.
At a later time, the entire street went for double glazing and low maintenance plastic. They also replaced the garage doors. Did they hide the original front doors (except one that I can see) behind a new outer entrance? Or was this part of the original construction? A few houses have a flat roof over the extension.
You can still see front doors through the windows.
Being so near to the sea, this makes sense.

There is one house up the street that kept the original garage doors. Look at the black hinges. They also went to great lengths and cost to preserve the stained glass windows, these were integrated in the double glazing (with exception of the new entrance obviously).


This is the house:

View attachment 268843

IMHO (repeat button), the garage was part of the original construction. The rumour that the Clarks built it to hide something underneath the floor is bogus.

No doubt the police will have access to any structural changes to the property inside or outside and will investigate in due course.

 

[Kitkat28]

I took another look. IMHO various houses were built with integral garages. They have a similar floorprint, only some details at the front differ.
At a later time, the entire street went for double glazing and low maintenance plastic. They also replaced the garage doors. Did they hide the original front doors (except one that I can see) behind a new outer entrance? Or was this part of the original construction? A few houses have a flat roof over the extension.
You can still see front doors through the windows.
Being so near to the sea, this makes sense.

There is one house up the street that kept the original garage doors. Look at the black hinges. They also went to great lengths and cost to preserve the stained glass windows, these were integrated in the double glazing (with exception of the new entrance obviously).



This is the house:

View attachment 268843

IMHO (repeat button), the garage was part of the original construction. The rumour that the Clarks built it to hide something underneath the floor is bogus.

I would say the house next door on that picture is far more likely to be representative of the original construction of those houses. The side alley with the garage in the garden is most likely what they were all like originally, probably without a garage at all as they were built when car ownership was not exactly commonplace.

The stained glass you are referring to as preserved is in fact modern and would have been put in when the UPVC windows were installed. It’s quite common to use it on 1930s houses to try and make the new windows look more ‘period’.

The porch on the front is also a normal addition, especially to houses where the front door opens straight into the living room. It gives you protection against draughts and somewhere to take off your shoes.

If you look to the right of the small upstairs window, you can see the line where the bricks change colour - that’s where the house finished originally. Follow it down to the ground and you will see the garage and the room above it is a later addition, in spite of the ‘rustic’ garage doors.

 

[MajorHoople]

I'll be surprised if his parents had anything to with his disappearance.

 

[Peak12345]

Mysterious letter names 'killer' of man who vanished without trace 28 years ago

 

[Alyce]

Thanks for the update Peak

from the article


“When he disappeared, he had left his wallet, spectacles, watch and personal belongings behind


Unusual to go for a walk without wearing his watch ?

 

[hettywainthropp]

Sections of letter naming 'killer' of suspected murder victim published
Local Paper article

 

[fridaybaker]

Not sure why, but my immediate thought upon seeing the handwriting (and maybe verbiage?) is that a man wrote it.

Also, please forgive my memory lapse, but can anyone refresh my memory as to why the police didn't pursue the parents more based on this anonymous letter before? Or, if they sought help from the public in trying to identify the author as they are now?

TIA!

 

[fridaybaker]

Another thought on this letter: The police seem to intimate that the author could have been very close to Steven/his family. Wouldn't it be likely that the parents would immediately recognize the handwriting? Perhaps this is why this avenue wasn't pursued earlier (making the letter public) but what are the implications for the author at this point?

Hmmm.