UK UK - Ruth Wilson, 16, Dorking, 27 Nov 1995

[Inspector wise]

I’ve not seen anything to say he did or he dint come forward,I’m sure he would of been traced and interviewed as part of the inquiry(or was he ?) Surrey police no they made mistakes in this case,but to be fair to them it was 1995 and the protocols they have now in place for cases like this dint exists back then,and because she had run away a few times before I dint think they took it two seriously at the beginning.it has been stated the there was a big police search,this is not true.It dint get in to full swing until a couple of days after the first report of RW going missing

 

[alb1on]

Having revisited some of the past coverage I suspect that Ben has misinterpreted what he was told when he asked for his interview transcript. In Ruth Wilson, the schoolgirl who caught a cab to oblivion Liam McCauley, the retired police officer who helped make the documentary in 2018, commented that when he sought details of the interviews he was refused because the case was ongoing - not because it had been classified as a crime. It is unlikely that a retired police officer would have overlooked it if the police had said it was being treated as a crime, but it would be easy for those outside LE to equate an ongoing status comment with an assumption that means a crime. So unless something has changed since 2018 the investigation status seems to be unchanged.

In terms of the search it is correct to say that the main search occurred 5 days after she disappeared, but a search using both helicopters and thermal imaging took place on the night of her disappearance and further searches in the following days before the main search. This is confirmed by the discovery of the notes by the police the day before the main search. It seems reasonable to assume that they had taken the results of the initial search to mean she was not on Box Hill but that the discovery of the notes led them to carry out a further, even more intensive, search. Regardless of the timing it is difficult in the extreme to understand how a series of searches with men, dogs, thermal imaging and helicopters could have missed her if she was on the hill - and even more difficult to see how a body could have remained undetected for a further 28 years in an area used for the Olympics, popular with walkers and crossed by the North Downs Way.

 

[Konstantin]

Having revisited some of the past coverage I suspect that Ben has misinterpreted what he was told when he asked for his interview transcript. In Ruth Wilson, the schoolgirl who caught a cab to oblivion Liam McCauley, the retired police officer who helped make the documentary in 2018, commented that when he sought details of the interviews he was refused because the case was ongoing - not because it had been classified as a crime. It is unlikely that a retired police officer would have overlooked it if the police had said it was being treated as a crime, but it would be easy for those outside LE to equate an ongoing status comment with an assumption that means a crime. So unless something has changed since 2018 the investigation status seems to be unchanged.

In terms of the search it is correct to say that the main search occurred 5 days after she disappeared, but a search using both helicopters and thermal imaging took place on the night of her disappearance and further searches in the following days before the main search. This is confirmed by the discovery of the notes by the police the day before the main search. It seems reasonable to assume that they had taken the results of the initial search to mean she was not on Box Hill but that the discovery of the notes led them to carry out a further, even more intensive, search. Regardless of the timing it is difficult in the extreme to understand how a series of searches with men, dogs, thermal imaging and helicopters could have missed her if she was on the hill - and even more difficult to see how a body could have remained undetected for a further 28 years in an area used for the Olympics, popular with walkers and crossed by the North Downs Way.

This is most likely the explanation! It is an open case so nothing can be provided.

It is likely that there are lots of details and pieces of info that are not in the public domain and that might, if we knew them, alter what we think about the case. I am curious, for example, how the notes that Ruth seems to have written and left on Box Hill managed to stay intact and not get blown around and sodden given it was nasty rainy even stormy (?) weather on the night she went missing.

Also, there must be details around the fact that Ruth had run off before, to stay at a mate's home, which suggests (1) that her parents knew full well she can't have been happy at home as they have continued to insist, (2) when she went missing, her parents might have thought she had run off again, but they very quickly called the police to report her missing this time. What was different? Did Ruth tell her family where she was before?

People in Ruth's life knew she was unhappy--Catherine and her mum for example. Maybe what happened to her mum wasn't the only thing going on in Ruth's life at the time (had she found out the truth about her mum's passing when she ran off to her friend's house the previous occasion for example, or were there other things going on?).

It's a haunting case because it does seem like at least initially, Ruth chose to go missing. I read a memoir lately by a woman who ran away purposefully to Birmingham from London when she was a teenager, escaping her family. She lived in hostels for battered women, and had a very, very lucky escape from a man who tried to harm her/kidnap/potentially traffic her (I don't think abroad) because it was obvious she was on the run, so no one knew where she was or her real ID. I do wonder if Ruth got into trouble after running away because she was vulnerable.

It is bizarre to me why her family are not vocal at all--not more vocal, just not vocal AT ALL--about trying to find her.

 

[mrC]

i think those notes were placed there by somone possbley ruth herself she ouldent of written them while on bo hill it would of been dark by the time she got there

 

[mrC]

empty parecetamel paccket empty bottle of booze 3 notes placed near them does anyone think that might be staged

 

[mrC]

so not a place were you would want to sit sown and start drinking i also think a bottle of wine would be a lot to drink for a girl that age on her own

 

[mrC]

the only i can see for her going there is if she was visting somone who lived there or meetin someone in the pub there is also the matter of how she was planing to get back were could she hae phoned a taxi to get home i assume as she went there by taxi she would of planned to go home by taxi

 

[Inspector wise]

They was a pay phone in the pub,so she could of used that,but the general hypothesis is that she meet someone there that had a car.RW new a lot of pepole,she worked in a music store,was a baby sitter,was a bell ringing at the local church and her ex boyfriend had a car,not to mention if she had contact with her mothers side of the family,we can only hope the police checked all of the above lines of enquiry.

 

[mrC]

if she was visiting somone they must of lived pretty near to where she was droped i cant see her wanting to walk that far in the dark and the cold

 

[Inspector wise]

On the road where the pub is,there is no real path so you can’t really walk there unless you walk in the road,I’m 99 percent she was known to the person/persons she meet and yes there was a good chance they were locals.There is still some confusion as to where she was dropped off,some say the pub and others say the bridle path.

 

[mrC]

nobody in the pub came forward and said they had seen her mind you the mind you the pub may not of been very busy that is if it was even open but she was there with someone somody must of served them but nobody came forward so i think its unlikely she went in the pub

 

[Tortoise]

There are bus stops right outside the pub. The number 21 bus. Here it is on Google streetview. Google Maps

The last buses in either direction run at about 6pm towards Crawley, and 6.45pm towards Epsom.

She could have changed her clothes in that time, if she'd planned ahead, which I think she did. She wasn't wearing a coat because she didn't need one in the library, or in taxis. But later on she would need one if she planned to depart and stay dry and warm in the evening. Did her ex-boyfriend's mother perhaps give her a coat that weekend, when she gave her some old clothes?

I think she wouldn't have spent money on taxis and flowers if she was running away, unless she knew she had a means of earning money (a new job - had opened a new bank account?) or someone had offered to provide shelter/help her. She could have taken cash in hand jobs like nannying.

I also think she planned this as a sort of 'you didn't tell me what happened to my mum, so I'll leave you not knowing what happens to me'. I think the tablets and booze were staged, because you don't need more than one means - overdose and jumping off the edge of a quarry, so it looks over-staged to me.

She could have got married by now.

I do wonder what made her look into her mother's cause of death. If something didn't add up for her, there was a reason it didn't.

JMO

 

[Inspector wise]

nobody in the pub came forward and said they had seen her mind you the mind you the pub may not of been very busy that is if it was even open but she was there with someone somody must of served them but nobody came forward so i think its unlikely she went in the pub

Yes the pub was open,but at 4.30pm I Reckon only a few locals,it was popular when I was a teenager,but I only ever went there at the weekends.as it was out the way and you could get served if you were under age.

 

[alb1on]

There are bus stops right outside the pub. The number 21 bus. Here it is on Google streetview. Google Maps

The last buses in either direction run at about 6pm towards Crawley, and 6.45pm towards Epsom.

She could have changed her clothes in that time, if she'd planned ahead, which I think she did. She wasn't wearing a coat because she didn't need one in the library, or in taxis. But later on she would need one if she planned to depart and stay dry and warm in the evening. Did her ex-boyfriend's mother perhaps give her a coat that weekend, when she gave her some old clothes?

I think she wouldn't have spent money on taxis and flowers if she was running away, unless she knew she had a means of earning money (a new job - had opened a new bank account?) or someone had offered to provide shelter/help her. She could have taken cash in hand jobs like nannying.

I also think she planned this as a sort of 'you didn't tell me what happened to my mum, so I'll leave you not knowing what happens to me'. I think the tablets and booze were staged, because you don't need more than one means - overdose and jumping off the edge of a quarry, so it looks over-staged to me.

She could have got married by now.

I do wonder what made her look into her mother's cause of death. If something didn't add up for her, there was a reason it didn't.

JMO

The 21 bus only started in 2015 or 16. Before that Box Hill was served by the 516 which went from Dorking to Epsom via Leatherhead. I think the route changed a little over the years and do not know what the exact route was in 1995.

 

[mrC]

i cant see her going all the way up there by taxi to catch the bus i couldent she hae cought one from town

 

[Inspector wise]

i cant see her going all the way up there by taxi to catch the bus i couldent she hae cought one from town

One of the police hypotheses is that she meet a person/person's there,I’ve never read anywhere that they thought she got on a bus and went somewhere else,and if she did I’m certain the bus driver would of come forward and told the police.

 

[mrC]

as far as i can are 3 possiltys

1 she was meeting somone
2 she was vistig someone who lived on or near the bridal path

3 the cab driver was lying about taking her there

i think 2 is the most likely

 

[Inspector wise]

The police have

as far as i can are 3 possiltys

1 she was meeting somone
2 she was vistig someone who lived on or near the bridal path

3 the cab driver was lying about taking her there

i think 2 is the most likely

(theses were the police theories)

"Jon Savell, the chief superintendent at Surrey police,
believes there are five possible explanations for Ruth
Wilson's disappearance.
"A tragic accident, abduction, suicide, murder, or that
she had absented herself to start a new life," he said."

 

[mrC]

she seems seems to spending money rather freely for somone who is planing a new life i dont think suicide is a possbility becouse you cant kill yourself and hide your own body

 

[mrC]

i think suicide was probebly considered becouse her mum killed hersel and of course the notes an the wine bottle bbut logically i cant see how its possble there would be a body