UK UK - Kevin Hicks, 16, Croydon, 2 Mar 1986

WhyaDuck?

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http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/resources/images/1624211/?type=display

At 8.40pm on March 2 in 1986, Kevin Hicks, aged 16, popped out to the corner shop to buy some eggs for a cookery exam he was due to take the next day.

He never came home and his disappearance left his family baffled.

His parents Terry and Derek have since died, leaving Kevin’s grandmother Dorothy to carry on the search.

More at:
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/8..._for_schoolboy_who_went_missing_25_years_ago/

And:
http://www.missingkids.com/missingk...m=03mis011504&orgPrefix=UK01&searchLang=en_US
 
Fresh appeal for information about Croydon schoolboy who went missing 25 years ago

7:10am Wednesday 2nd March 2011

Despite having nothing more than a pound in his pocket, Kevin never returned home.

A police investigation, door-to-door enquiries and an appeal on Crimewatch failed to generate any solid leads leaving his family clueless as to what had happened to him.

CCTV from the shop was not working and staff could not remember seeing Kevin.

More at:
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/8880351.Fresh_appeal_for_schoolboy_who_went_missing_25_years_ago/
 
I wonder if this could be related to Lee Boxell who disappeared in 1988 from Sutton which is not that far from Croydon, and possibly Martin Allen who disappeared in 1979, and was last seen at kings cross underground, and possibly earls court.
 
AUG 2012
I have recently met Alexandra online through the search for Tia Sharp, Croydon, [now deceased]. Alexandra is once again trying to raise awareness about Kevin through social media. She knows it's been a long time, both their parents have died. She hopes for answers, as do all the relatives of the missing. People always have hope. She is asking for national & even international coverage. When I did an online search, mention of Kevin Hicks here on WS came up so thought it worth a try to mention him again.
Thanks.
 
Oh my! I used to live off of Lower Addiscombe Road and had never realised this had happened. I was grown up and left by 1986, but that is truly too close to home. Somehow I have a memory of a boy going missing, but really thought it was in the 1950's. Can anyone shed any light on that for me?

For some reason I thought the boy went to the same school as me. Does anyone know what school Kevin went to?

I keep thinking what could have happened. I know the route and my best guess he was taken into a car somewhere along the way. I think there are a lot of alley ways behind houses in this area, but the dustmen use them so I would have thought they would find anything.

It is odd. The papers do not say what school he went to and everything is all very near Ashburton Park which we discussed on the Tia Sharp thread.

Here is a map. Sissinghurst Road is between Widehurst Road and Black Horse Lane. http://croydon.streetmapof.co.uk/sissinghurst-road/

I am racking my brains as to where the 7 eleven was but I think it would have been at the end of Blackhorse Lane so his most likely route is down Widehurst Road and at a guess turning left as I think Blackhorse Lane end would be too far down for the 7 eleven.

To get to it you would have to cross Lower Addiscombe Road. That is unless I am wrong and it is sonewhere on the right on the other side where the Co-OP is now?

He was certainly not going far.

Addiscombe station is a fair walk down Lower Addiscombe Road and it was never easy to get to anywhere apart from, I think, Norwood from it. There is a bus stop which would have been in use (12 and 197 buses at that time I would think still, at the end of Blackhorse Lane after the crossing.

The Black Horse Pub was at the end of Blackhorse Road and I wonder if that was stil open when Kevin disapeared. Did they ever ask in there?

Places a lad might get to therefore in the immediate area: IF he was meeting or met up with friends -but nobody saw.

?Blackhorse pub
?Ashburton Park
?Hop on a bus to Croydon or the other way to Norwood.

Someone would surely have seen a hit and run.

Lower Addiscombe Road is fairly busy.
 
The more I think about it. The most logical explanation if Kevin was not seen in the seven-eleven is that he went into Croydon. It is just SO easy to do that from place where the seven eleven was. So easy at 16 to think 'bother this' about an exam and just light out for a bit. DID they ask bus drivers or look at Croydon, ask people if Kevin was seen at East Croydon Station, George Street or similar?
 
I was visiting my mum and dad and had a reason to go that way. What I had not thought of before is that directly opposite Sissinghurst Road is Teevan Road- which is fairly long and curves round so it also comes out by what was then the Post Office in Lower Addiscombe Road - so it can't be certain if Kevin didn't take the longer route meaning to walk back towards Black Horse Lane and the Seven Eleven.

Either way there are a lot of different houses that could hold a secret, and also it might be possible that there was a hit and run if he did not cross the road at the crossing.

However I still tend to go with the idea of a teenager getting a bus into Croydon...so very easy to do from several points in Lower Addiscombe Road or even, at a pinch, as I used to he may have walked.

I kept wondering.......It does not do much use I guess but it sort of was interesting to realise there were so many places Kevin could have got to.

I also realised how near Sissinghurst Road is to Woodside School where I went. Another option for a teenage boy might have been to turn left and go into Woodside where there is a common...sort of a great meeting place for teens i would think.

What does bug me is that someone has to have seen him at some point. Now I am wondering if they just searched the obvious route. It is soooo close to home - although my mum insisted the seven-eleven was actually the shop on the other side of the road from what is now the play centre.

Sissinghurst Road is very short.
 
I'm from Croydon originally and keep up a little with Alexandra's campaign to keep the profile up on her brother's disappearance. As with all these cases, it just seems unfathomable how someone can just vanish, but especially when it's an area you know fairly well. It is a densely populated area, busy all the time with traffic and buses, can't believe there are no eyewitness reports or anything? You had to pay the bus fare to the driver in 1986 so surely someone would remember him getting on a bus?

We lived at the other end of the borough but I do remember this being in the news and finding it scary that a child could go missing so close to home :(

What day of the week was it he went missing? Nothing else apart from convenience stores would have been open at that time anyway in 1986.


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Has anyone considered there could be a possible link between Kevin Hicks,Lee Boxell and mark garveys disappearance. Ive always felt there was something about these three cases that seemed like they were linked to me.
 
Has there ever been any theories put farward by the police as to what might have happened to Kevin. And isnt it time for another crimewatch appeal. Someone somewhere may know something.
 
With whats coming out now about the westminster abuse scandel anything seems to be possible. This case has always bugged me i find it hard to understand how a 15 year old boy could have been abducted without any witnesses seeing a struggle or hearing any shouts for help. In fact i find it hard to believe there were no sightings of Kevin at all.It could be possible that Kevin went voluntarily with someone he knew. I have a nasty feeling that his disappearance is linked to others.
 
Also wondering if Kevin actually went to the shop at all. Or if he may have met up with someone he might have known.
 

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