UK UK - Robert Duff, 37, Archway, London, 12 Jan 2013

[Al Ka]

Robert Duff

• Age at disappearance: 37
• Missing Since: 12-Jan-2013
• Missing from: Holloway Road, Archway, North London
• Reference No: 13-000170
  
  Help us find Robert Duff

His daughter's appeal on FB - Lostbox

 

[Al Ka]

16 December, 2016
Missing father-of two: police carry out two-day search of Archway flat

POLICE tracing a man who disappeared nearly four years ago spent two days searching a flat in Archway this week, the Tribune can reveal.

Robert Duff, who was last seen in Upper Holloway, was reported missing in January 2013 when he failed to turn up at a celebratory meal marking his daughter’s 18th birthday. He has not been seen or heard from since.

On Tuesday, more than 20 officers descended on a flat in Bredgar Road, off Junction Road, and searched the property for two days.

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When approached by the Tribune last night (Thursday), a man at the property that was searched said he knew Mr Duff “years ago”, adding: “They [police] were here, just wanted to have a look.” He declined to comment further.

Mr Duff, a father-of-two who was 37 when he went missing, lived in Ingestre Road in his youth, trained as a metal engineer and performed in Camden Town bars and clubs under the name DJ Flight. He was living in Kilburn at the time of his disappearance.

Police have trawled security cameras, but have been able to find no trace of him since he was captured on CCTV withdrawing cash from an ATM in Holloway Road shortly before he went missing.

His bank account and phone, which have been monitored by police, remain untouched.
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The last communication he made was a voicemail message believed to have been accidentally left on his daughter’s phone on January 12, 2013 – the last time he was seen.
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Mr Duff was known to frequent Camden, Archway and Holloway.

Missing father-of two: police carry out two-day search of Archway flat | Islington Tribune

 

[Al Ka]

12 JAN 2017
Daughters ask for information on their dad on four-year anniversary of his disappearance

The family of a missing dad are appealing for information on the four-year anniversary of his disappearance.

Robert Duff, from Kilburn, has not been seen or heard from since January 12, 2013 when he failed to attend his child’s birthday party.
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The last sighting of Mr Duff was confirmed from CCTV footage which showed him withdrawing money from a cash machine outside a Sainsbury’s in Holloway Road, north London, at 11.12am on the day of his disappearance.

Mr Duff is a white man, around 5ft 7ins or 5ft 8ins tall. At the time of his disappearance he was of slim build and had short brown hair.

He is known to frequent the Holloway, Kentish Town, Islington and Camden areas.

Appeal for information four years after Kilburn dad went missing

 

[Al Ka]

02 January, 2018
Daughter of missing man says case should be a murder investigation

THE daughter of a man who went missing without trace nearly five years ago says she “fears the worst”. She has called on police to upgrade their search to a murder investigation.

Stephanie Duff, whose father Robert was last seen in January 2013, said that her family believe all the evidence suggests that “he has come to harm in some way”.

They would like to see the case treated more seriously.
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Mr Duff, a former William Ellis School pupil who grew up in Kentish Town, has not been heard from since he accidentally left a voicemail message on his daughter’s phone on January 12, 2013. Two voices could be heard, one a woman and the other a Scottish- sounding man, but they have never made contact with the family or police. The family raised the alarm the following day when Mr Duff failed to turn up for Stephanie’s 18th birthday party.

Ms Duff said: “He was with people that night and not one person has ever come forward. Someone out there does know something, no matter how big or small.” Mr Duff, who was 37 when he went missing, lived in Ingestre Road in his youth, trained as a metal engineer and performed in Camden Town bars and clubs under the name DJ Flight. He was living in Kilburn at the time of his disappearance. Police have found no trace of him since he was captured on CCTV withdrawing cash from an ATM in Holloway Road shortly before he went missing.

Daughter of missing man says case should be a murder investigation

 

[Al Ka]

15 May, 2018
Divers search Waterlow Park as police launch murder probe over dad missing since 2013

Police divers were today searching a pond in a Highgate park after detectives launched a murder investigation into the death of a father-of-two who disappeared five years ago.

Robert Duff, who grew up in Kentish Town, has been missing since January 12, 2013.

The Met’s underwater search team trawled the pond in Waterlow Park on Tuesday morning, while forensic teams were carrying out a fingertip search of a property in Archway.

Police had previously treated the disappearance of the former William Ellis pupil as a missing persons inquiry, but it is now believed he was attacked and killed, before his body was disposed of.
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Detective Chief Inspector Luke Marks, who is leading the investigation, said that in response to media appeals earlier this year a new witness came forward with “highly significant information about what happened to Robert that caused us to change the investigation from a missing persons enquiry to a murder investigation”.
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Two men, aged 70 and 51, were arrested yesterday on suspicion of murder. They have been released under investigation.

He said that divers had been deployed to Waterlow Park as “part of the ongoing investigation to try and locate Robert’s remains”.

He said Waterlow Park was “very close to the location where Robert was last believed to have been seen,” adding: “There is not any intelligence to this particular part of the pond, it’s just us looking at areas where we believe that Robert’s body may have been disposed of.”

Divers search Waterlow Park as police launch murder probe over dad missing since 2013

 

[Al Ka]

May 15, 2018
Murder probe launched five years after man’s disappearance

A murder investigation has been launched into the disappearance of a father who vanished more than five years ago.
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Despite a lengthy missing persons inquiry police now believe he was killed that night.

Searches are being carried out in open spaces near where he was last seen, including in Waterlow Park, Highgate, north London, with police divers scouring ponds, and at a flat in nearby Bredgar Road.
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The breakthrough in the case came after a television appeal on ITV London Tonight in January, which led a new witness to come forward.

At the end of February the case was passed to Scotland Yard’s murder squad.

Detective Chief Inspector Luke Marks said that Mr Duff was involved in a fight with two men on the night he died.
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Mr Duff had been to the flat in Bredgar Road on the night he died, and several people were there.

His bank card and mobile phone remain missing.

Describing the 42-year-old as “a well-known and likeable character” in the local area, Mr Marks said there was no obvious motive for someone to cause him harm.

The fight on the night he died appears to have been “spontaneous”, he said.

Mr Duff was friends with a woman called Lana Purcell who is also believed to have been murdered, but police are not linking the two cases.

Two people were arrested on suspicion of murder on Monday and released pending investigation.

Murder probe launched five years after man’s disappearance

Adding link to missing Lana Purcell thread - UK - UK - Lana Purcell, 26, Kentish Town, London, 17 Jan 2011

 

[Al Ka]

15 May 2018
Robert Duff ‘murder’: Two men arrested in Archway five years after Kilburn man went missing

Cops have launched a murder investigation over the disappearance of Kilburn man Robert Duff five years ago – and arrested two men in Archway.

They have since been released as the police investigation continues.
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Det Ch Insp Luke Marks - “Today I am making an appeal for information regarding Robert’s disappearance in January 2013. I would encourage members of the public with information to come forward. We are now acting on new evidence, which has meant the case has developed from a missing persons to a murder inquiry.
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“After over five years with no news, Mr Duff’s family are desperate to find out what happened to him, and we will continue to work tirelessly until they do to establish the truth.”

Robert Duff ‘murder’: Two men arrested in Archway five years after Kilburn man went missing

 

[Al Ka]

20 September 2018
Robert Duff: £10,000 reward for information on ‘murdered’ Kilburn dad who went missing in 2013

A reward of £10,000 is being offered for information into the 2013 disappearance of Kilburn man Robert Duff – who police believe may have been murdered.
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Robert didn’t turn up to his daughter’s 18th birthday on January 12 that year, and he has never been seen since. The 37-year-old had links to Camden Town, Archway and Kentish Town.

A key line of investigation are that earlier on the day he went missing he “pocket dialled” his daughter Stephanie resulting in a voice message being recorded. A woman and two men – one with a Scottish accent – were heard shouting at a dog in the background.

Two men arrested in Archway earlier this year on suspicion of murder have been released under investigation and enquiries are ongoing.

In the meantime, charity Crimestoppers is offering £10,000 for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or people responsible for Robert Duff’s murder or the discovery of his body.

Robert Duff: £10,000 reward for information on ‘murdered’ Kilburn dad who went missing in 2013

 

[Al Ka]

older article 14 March, 2013
£5,000 reward in search for missing father-of-two who family fear ‘may have gone same way as Lana’

THE family of a man who “disappeared into thin air” two months ago have offered up their life savings as a reward.

Robert Duff’s two daughters, schoolteacher mother and former partner have raised £5,000 in a desperate bid for information.
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Although keeping the cases separate, detectives have said they are investigating links to the disappearance two years ago of Mr Duff’s friend, Lana Purcell, who is feared dead by her family.

Mr Duff’s family said they are “terrified he’s gone the same way as Lana”.

Police issued a renewed appeal for information about the “happy-go-lucky” mother following a campaign by her family and the New Journal. Both Mr Duff and Ms Purcell had struggled with hard-drug addiction and moved in similar circles, according to investigators.

“Lana was a friend of his,” said Louise Smyth, 36, the mother of Mr Duff’s two daughters. “They grew up together, and they knew each other well. They were in some of the same circles.

“Drug users from Kentish Town, Camden Town, Holloway and Archway – areas he frequented – have started to put one and one together. They are all saying he’s gone the same way as Lana, but nobody knows where that is. It’s like they have both been sucked into a Bermuda triangle, but a triangle of what exactly no one knows.
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Mr Duff lived in West Hampstead and grew up in Ingestre Road, Kentish Town. The last time his family heard from him was at 8.30pm on January 12 when he told Stephanie to be careful on a night out with friends. Around 45 minutes later, he accidentally "pocket-dialled" his daughter and left a voicemail with the voices of a woman and two men in the background. Police traced the voicemail to Archway.

Stephanie said: “If we could find out who the people in the voicemail were we would be onto something. Those last moments are a mystery.”

£5,000 reward in search for missing father-of-two who family fear ‘may have gone same way as Lana’

 

[jessie]

Amazing research at possible connections Al Ka. Thank you.

 

[Legally Bland]

Police divers are to search a pond on Hampstead Heath for the body of a man who went missing more than seven years ago.

Relatives of Robert Duff, who would now be 45, raised the alarm on January 12 2013 when he failed to attend his daughter’s 18th birthday celebration.

His disappearance was treated as a missing persons inquiry until 2018, when a television appeal on ITV News London led a new witness to come forward.

The Metropolitan Police launched a murder investigation and began searching bodies of water near the area where he was last seen, including in Waterlow Park, Highgate, north London.

Divers to search pond for body of man missing for seven years | ITV News

 

[Wowno17]

Fresh missing persons posters up around the Archway area

 

[Wowno17]

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Charlotte Duff is the youngest daughter of Robert Duff.

He also shared a daughter named Stephanie.

After a decade-long search, Charlotte has now spoken of the moment an unknown man approached her with information regarding her missing father.

What has Charlotte Duff said?​

Charlotte claimed the stranger told her that Robert had been killed after getting into an argument with two men in Archway, North London.

The men allegedly murdered him, before dismembering him and placing his remains in a suitcase.

Speaking in the new documentary, the devastated daughter said: "I do feel he was telling the truth. He wanted to remain anonymous. I spoke to him and said, 'Can you call the hotline?' and he said he'd be happy to do that."

Two months later, an unnamed contact of the show's presenter, Professor David Wilson, was reportedly able to track the man down.
He said: "It took a few weeks, I tracked him down last week. He said he was friends with Robert Duff.

Everything we know about Robert Duff's daughter Charlotte

IN 2013, Robert Duff was reported missing after failing to attend his daughter’s 18th birthday party in London. Daughter Charlotte Duff has told a new documentary of the moment an unknown man…

www.thesun.ie

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Not long after Robert Duff went missing, I rang the hotline as I had felt quite convinced he was a bloke that I had been on the same bus with - the 134 at Archway Junction Road going into town.

Whoever the man I spoke with was, he had got on the bus at the same time as me, he looked pretty much the same as the descriptions as RD but he had one foot with no shoe or sock on and the foot was very swollen and bloody, I assumed he had been injecting into his foot as it seemed likely he was in addiction and it was maybe septicemia. It was such a cold day his foot would have been unbearably cold. We chatted on the bus as I was standing next to him the whole time of my journey and he told me he was off on the bus down to Tottenham Court Road to buy his female relative a mobile phone as a gift - I seemed to think he said sister but he might have said daughter. The reason I remembered it so well was because I had pleaded with him to get off the bus at UCLH A&E (which is the big hospital on the first bit of Tott Ct Rd) and forget about buying the phone or he might not live long enough to give it to her. I felt quite strongly he had a life threatening issue. He assured me he was going straight there after buying the mobile phone. I remember wondering if it would be the right thing to do to go that far on the bus myself and try to persuade him to go in the hospital but I was getting off at Kentish Town and he seemed a bit of a hard nut and I had a lot of troubles of my own at the time so I didn't want to get dragged into any bad situation.

It may not have been RD but whenever it came to my attention that this man was missing from Archway, it came straight to my mind and I rang and left info on the police number but I never heard anything back. I guess they may have checked the bus and street cameras? It was years ago now but maybe I should have been more insistent?

 

[Al Ka]

In 2023, Metropolitan Police reopened the case, on the 10th anniversary of Robert Duff disappearance.

Who was Robert Duff and what happened to him?

ROBERT Duff was known as a family man whose disappearance was described as completely out of character by his family. The years since he vanished in 2013 have been fruitless in terms of evidence de…

www.the-sun.com

10th February 2023

Police failed us from the beginning, say family of missing father-of-two​

“I think it was discrimination to be honest, in terms of my dad being on drugs. But he wasn’t your typical drug user,” she said. “My dad had a flat, my dad held down a job. My dad was what you could call a functioning user – a lot of people never knew my dad used. He was a family man.”

Ms Duff is now calling for greater family input during missing persons inquiries.
“I feel like they’re missing these critical little points in the early stages,” she said.

After their initial disappointment with the police search, Ms Duff said her family began conducting their own investigation.

“A lot of what the police know is from the family. We knocked on doors, we went door to door, we still do it to this day – we put up posters in Archway and talk to people in the street,” said Ms Duff.
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Anyone with information that could assist the investigation is asked to call the incident room on 0208 358 0200 or dial 101. To remain anonymous contact the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Police failed us from the beginning, say family of missing father-of-two

Ten-year anniversary in unsolved search for Robert Duff

www.islingtontribune.co.uk

'We will never give up'
"Two men invited [Robert] back to Bredgare road. One of the men had made sexual advances towards Robert and a fight ensued. Robert was eventually murdered, and one of the men dismembered him.

"He apparently used to be a butcher, he dismembered him in a flat, they transported him in two suitcases."
The source then went on to claim that Robert's remains were deposited at a pig farm in Epping Forrest.

Everything we know about Robert Duff's daughter Charlotte

IN 2013, Robert Duff was reported missing after failing to attend his daughter’s 18th birthday party in London. Daughter Charlotte Duff has told a new documentary of the moment an unknown man…

www.thesun.ie

In the Footsteps of Killers viewers claim they've spotted a crucial clue investigators 'missed' in the cold case murder of a father who vanished 10 years ago​

As she grew older, Stephanie was prompted to begin her own investigations, and went door-to-door in her local area to ask for information.

She said the name which kept coming up was Helen McGuire, and she tried to meet up with her on a number of occasions - but she would always fail to appear.

And when Professor David began doing some research, he found Helen McGuire died of drug related causes in 2020.

In the Footsteps of Killers viewers claim they've spotted clue

Robert Duff, 37, failed to attend his daughter's 18th birthday party in London, with his family describing his disappearance 10 years ago as 'completely out of character'.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Al Ka]

Posting links to 3 known cases of disappearances in Kilburn/Kentish Town area of North London. All 3 were known drug users and likely known by the same circle of people. Not saying at all that cases are related, but it just odd, especially Lisa disapearing just 3 days after Robert. Also to note, Kilburn area even though looking ok during day time, was quite run down with high crime at the time and reading stories of locals on Nextdoor app it is even worse now.

January 17, 2011 - Lana Purcell, 26 - UK - UK - Lana Purcell, 26, Kentish Town, London, 17 Jan 2011

January 12, 2013 - Robert Duff, 37 - lived in Kilburn but disappeared around Holloway Road
January 15, 2013 - Lisa Pour, 40 - UK - Lisa Pour, 40, ‘murder investigation’, Willesden, London, January 2013.