Found Deceased UK - Anthony Knott, 33, last seen at a pub in Lewes, Sussex, 20 Dec 2019 #2

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Officer Dibble said:
Also, I can't link it over, but yesterday there was mention of AK not having a drink in the pub then being on his phone before it died/was switched off. Just for perspective reasons I overheard a conversation about a men's works pub crawl in a familiar area. It also began at lunchtime and they were still going strong into the evening (with food being provided at one pub). One of the group realised he'd had too much to drink, so didn't drink any more, then not long after called someone (girlfriend?) for a lift. He went outside and waited for her. I'm only mentioning this so you can relate this possible scenario to AK. Who did he call? Did a car pull over and pick him up? Or say to meet him at a certain place, but he couldn't intitially find that place?
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AK’s family have been told by police, after they’d checked his mobile phone data, that he made no calls at all when in Lewes. He definitely received one earlier at approximately 4pm, which was from a work colleague in the group who was asking Anthony for directions. He did check some data on his phone for a few minutes shortly prior to leaving The Lamb - which could have been Google Maps looking for nearby stores so he could buy cigarettes...or he could have been checking something else. But he definitely didn’t make any calls, and I haven’t read he’d sent any text messages, either: so that rules out he was contacting someone to meet up with.

I also believe it was his first visit to Lewes, so the likelihood of him even knowing anyone living there, let alone having an affair, is almost non-existent. Besides, he was SEEN on CCTV (twice) alone...

I’ve seen suggestions where people have said maybe he was buying drugs, or meeting a hook-up off a gay dating site, but there’s never been the slightest suggestion he was into any of those things; and really, would a man out with his firefighter colleagues on a Christmas pub crawl suddenly sneak off to buy drugs or meet up for quick gay sex? IF AK was an occasional recreational drug user (and it seems unlikely given his profession & being a father to four young children) he’d have got whatever drug he wanted from a supplier he knew and trusted near where he lived. So you can rule that one out.

And if he was secretly bi-sexual, which again, there’s absolutely nothing to suggest that, but married men who are secretly bi arrange hook-ups well away from where they live, and well away from any chance of being spotted. And they do it at a convenient time - they don’t leave their dozen friends to wonder where he’s gone...

The one coincidental thing is that his battery went flat when he left the pub...is it possible he turned it off? And if so, why? He was 50 miles from home & if his battery was almost dead would he have wasted it on scrolling through Google/sites/maps? I’d save my battery in case I needed to call home later or to receive urgent calls/texts - so I find it strange he’d use his battery up to search for directions when all he had to do was ask absolutely any local how to get to a cigarette shop. It’s possible he turned his phone off to save the last of his battery for later, but it’s also possible he turned it off in the hugely unlikely possibility he wanted to “run away from life” - but people don’t “leave” when out on a works do.

One curious thing is the lack of police appeals/updates....maybe they have an idea what’s happened and haven’t publicised it. They seemed to abruptly call all the searches off, which they did do thoroughly they say, but there are no appeals, no reconstructions, so I’d guess the police have an idea what’s happened
 
EyeSpyU said:
All Waitrose stores have toilets.

But AK never went into Waitrose, otherwise their CCTV would have picked him up
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Speaking as someone who pops into Lewes Waitrose every Wednesday before sitting out the front of it waiting for a number 29 bus, I can assure you it does not have customer toilets.
I don't believe he went there anyway.
 
As mentioned in my earlier posts and those of others in the past day or so- surely the river is the explanation. Again, it is unclear where he came into contact with it, if this is indeed what happened.

Regarding the temperature of the water and therefore when the body may be found- water does not change temperature quickly (heating up or cooling down) and as we draw deeper into winter it is only likely to get colder, not warmer. The other issue is, what if the body does rise towards the surface but goes unnoticed (eg at night) ; the strong currents on the top of the river's surface could, I suppose, carry anything that is floating out to sea by Newhaven. Therefore a finding on the beaches west of the mouth of the Ouse? Seaford and beyond? I appreciate what many reports say about bodies usually found close to where they drowned though due to lack of currents on the river bed.
 
BodyOfWater said:
It certainly is the most plausible theory.

If you was to tell someone unfamiliar with this case that there was heavy flooding the night he went missing, drowning would be a pretty obvious conclusion.

But if everything was so simple there would be no need for discussion.

Not everything “adds up” so it could be one of those occasions where there is a more eerie demise.

Personally I don’t think he would have chosen to walk across flooded grass & got wet even as a short cut.

That said, sadly bodies of water seem to act like magnets towards younger men.
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No, he wouldn’t have chosen to walk across flooded grass, ordinarily, but he seemed to be a fairly heavy smoker going by the first video, and when someone is desperate for a cigarette & half-cut, they’ll often do whatever it takes to get some cigarettes. And no-one knows if he did indeed walk across flooded grass - or if he only realised it was flooded once he started walking on it - it was dark, remember.

It wasn’t flooded as in “knee-deep”, so if he did take what he thought looked like a shortcut, once he’d already got his shoes & bottom on jeans wet he simply carried on walking...

If that sodden grass led to the riverside he may not have even seen the river there, or simply slipped by the side and fell in

There’s not many other alternatives, unless he deliberately vanished (which is hugely unlikely), or he was attacked/hit by a car...but there’s no evidence of that at all

There’s the remote possibility a drunk driver ran into him somewhere, panicked and rather than leaving AK in the Road leaving vital evidence, somehow put him in the car, maybe with the help of their passenger, and sped off. Everyone knows it’s a long imprisonment for a hit and run. It was Christmas; possibly a few drink drivers about...so IF that happened, a quick thinking person would move AK to another area otherwise the police would have checked all the road cameras and eventually found which cars were in that area if AK had been found there
 
guiser said:
Speaking as someone who pops into Lewes Waitrose every Wednesday before sitting out the front of it waiting for a number 29 bus, I can assure you it does not have customer toilets.
I don't believe he went there anyway.
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It must be a smaller Waitrose to normal then, as the two I use both have toilets for customers. But AK wouldn’t have known that, anyway.

I agree with you, too - he didn’t go in there
 
EyeSpyU said:
Anthony may have been more inebriated than he appeared: not everyone staggers when they’re way over the limit. He didn’t have a drink in The Lamb, which suggests he felt he’d had enough.


Going by the fact he left the pub and appears to have been possibly disoriented, feeling tipsy, unfamiliar with his surroundings, he then got lost - hence him walking down towards the residential area. He spent about 20 minutes down there before walking back up again, so clearly his sense of direction was skewed for some reason.

If that’s the case, and it appears to be, then it’s highly likely he became lost and disoriented when trying to reach Waitrose/Tesco. He may have noticed what he thought was a shortcut and with it being dark, wet and slippery, he could have easily slipped into the river.

He was wearing smart shoes which don’t grip as well as trainers; he did seem to stumble slightly on the first CCTV; he did have a “bouncy walk” due to walking on his toes which would make you more liable to slip...he had alcohol in his system...and according to reports the river was extremely dangerous that night with a fast current.

I suspect, tragically, he fell into the very cold water and was dragged away by the current: it happens frequently to people all over the world.
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I certainly dont disagree the water is the most likely scenario or that once close enough it would be an accident waiting to happen. I'm just intrigued as to where he would have entered the water as the last cctv had him heading towards the high street
I'm sure police will come up with more cctv to hopefully explain his next movements in order to move the case along if they haven't already
 
Rosegold68 said:
Just because he made no phone calls first rule out contacting someone......data was used. Could be WhatsApp snapchat or insta message
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True, but what’s the chances of AK arranging to meet someone in in a place he’s never been before; that’s 50 miles from home; and while he’s out with his friends on a Christmas do?

I’d say almost zero
 
I'm trying to explore the 'intended to go home' possibility, but I'm having difficulty with getting my computer to give me historical information about train services, disruptions, cancellations that night due to rain and flooding.

Does anyone have this information or has seen it stated definitively anywhere, or know how to get it?

It's possible he overheard someone in the pub saying there are no trains. Or the service isn't reliable for the forseeable few hours. That could cause him to look anxious, so far away from home and having a commitment to getting back. One of his mates might have said we'll share a taxi home and AK might have thought that's going to cost a few, I'll see if I can get a bus or coach or a taxi to Brighton or Tonbridge and a train from there. His data usage might have been checking out an alternative public transport route or local taxi companies.
 
EyeSpyU said:
True, but what’s the chances of AK arranging to meet someone in in a place he’s never been before; that’s 50 miles from home; and while he’s out with his friends on a Christmas do?

I’d say almost zero
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its not uncommon for people on Tinder etc to search by location in order to meet people close by, you can set the mile distance. I agree it would be odd to it on work night out and at 7pm though.
 
BodyOfWater said:
I strongly doubt all CCTV has been sought, recovered & painstakingly trawled through.

After all there are many shops & businesses across the area. I just hope the entities in question hold onto CCTV from that period until it is requested. Likewise for the second person who may have gone missing they appear to be searching for.
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I had meant all available CCTV for the police had been seen. A lot can't be accessed because of the data protection act.
 
I've found this tweet by Southern Railway at 1.21pm on that day, but I'm not sure if it would have affected AK's route or not.

Southern‏Verified account @SouthernRailUK
#SNUpdates - Your tickets will be accepted interchangeably across Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express services. These are still disrupted following heavy rain flooding the railway earlier.

1:21 pm - 20 Dec 2019
 
I was thinking today about the fact that no further cctv footage of Anthony after 7.41 pm has so far been found. I was wondering whether one reason for that could be that he took off his coat at some point? I know it was cold but after briskly walking for half an hour or so he might have felt a bit too warm. At least that's my own experience when I have a warm coat or jacket on and walk fast. It can get sweaty inside and I have on occasion taken it off for a few minutes.

The cctv footage we've seen was quite dark before they lightened and sharpened it - I would not have recognized AK. If he took off his coat it might have been even more difficult to recognize him in such kind of images, and he was simply overlooked or dismissed.

Moo.
 
I think (but I'm not positive without checking again) Brighton is on a different line from Lewes though.
 
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