UK UK - Sarah Everard, 33, London - Clapham Common area, 3 March 2021

[Sainlondon]

Sorry for duplicate posts

 

[Parmalade]

Hi, I’m also new to ws. I am also mid thirties, petite, live in London. Currently in Fulham but lived for many years in Clapham area.

As mentioned above, the main road through the common and the roads around are very well lit, busy with traffic and other walkers and I would say at 9pm safe.

I wanted to put a few other things into context if useful given topics mentioned here:

- I do live alone at my age and afford a one bed flat rental (and where I live is more central and so more pricier than I imagine the area Sarah lives). So it’s not impossible she lived alone - I’m by no means well off and have a moderately paid job.

-I don’t think it’s a long distance to walk. I often walk 2 hours to and from work or for leisure in London. It’s all flat, I can listen to podcasts, catch up with friends on the phone etc and get my daily exercise and steps where I can’t currently go to the gym.

- Most likely at that time she was using her headphones to talk on the phone I would think rather than listen to music. I often do that especially when dark as allows me to put my phone in pocket so it isn’t visible.

I wonder of boyfriend lives somewhere else not so local as the only thing I find odd is if I was on the phone to my boyfriend at that time he would come out and meet me and walk with me. But as someone else has said he would at least ask for a text when home.

Our posts crossed and I wondered the same re the headphones - does that model have a mic?

Also, re: the partner, I’m loathe for obvious reasons to post sources, but when I first searched SE’s name a couple of days ago when the news broke near me, I saw locations on social media posts that suggests the partner lives (or did at one point) a little way (ie not feasibly walkable) to the east of Tulse Hill. But those sorts of things can get outdated quickly. Also, allegedly they’d planned to meet the next day, suggesting they weren’t living together at that time, or the partner was away at least, and/or the partner wasn’t in the vicinity to pick her up. All based on reports of the phone call/SE’s plans, which I am sure are being verified by enquiries.

 

[Vera_dci]

On the cctv released it looks like she has her phone up to her ear. I'm confused as to why she didn't use her earphones. I wonder if the battery ran out on them.

 

[mrjitty]

Two days into this, I am sceptical of the followed by a stranger with a theory

I think she would have turned up unless she got into a car

I do wonder if she got a flat battery, and then something has happened much later

 

[Marulinka]

Hi everyone, this is my first time posting so I hope I am taking the right approach.

Like many of us this case has shaken me deeply.I live very near Leathwaite Road in SW11, the point Sarah set off from, and often walk and cycle to Clapham South/Brixton/Brockwell. I have lived around this area ever since moving to London over a decade ago. My hope is that I can provide some very local context from the perspective of a woman of Sarah's age and height, with a similar job. Like her I am an active person, who took part in team sports locally before covid, and who has been trying to 'get her steps up' during this most recent lockdown by walking for several hours a day. And also I can hopefully clear up one or two misconceptions about the route that I have seen online (not so much here thankfully).

The first thing I wanted to confirm is that the route 'across the common' the seems to have people raising eyebrows on Twitter etc is actually a busy main road, the A205. At 9pm there is a fair bit of foot traffic (walker/joggers) and cyclists as well as cars. There is also a burger van open almost (or actually) all hours just off it near the ponds which tends to be busy, and often has off duty police eating there. I am one of life's worriers but I take this route in the dark several times a week and have no hesitation in doing so. People are imagining her walking across the grass in the dark and this is just not the case with that route, nothing like it.

I used to live at the top of Cavendish Road, and the section of the proposed route beyond that raises some questions for me. (again, this is just my personal view). Clarence Avenue itself and the streets around it I would avoid at night. It feels very 'empty' and dark – it is residential but the houses all have big gardens so are set well back from the road, and there is not much through traffic even during the day. My usual route during the day is to take Abbeville Road and then Crescent Lane, before skirting the Blenheim Estate and ending up near Water Lane that way. The houses are much closer to the road around there, which makes me feel more secure, and I think it would be my preference at night, although I haven't tried it recently in lockdown. My personal view is I would be surprised if SE took Clarence Avenue itself on foot, but of course it is not impossible.

If I can be useful giving my view as someone in quite a similar position on 'sense checking' aspects of the various proposed routes please do ask me.

Thank you for your post. Great insight for us not so local (i am from lewisham)

 

[Jimmy Pats]

Have to say that I struggle with the idea of being on the phone with a girlfriend who is walking at night through an area of London that’s not wholly safe and not insisting on a “hi i’ve got home” text. Everyone is different I guess but I find this odd and meant that crucial hours were lost (CCTV footage wiped) in not reporting Sarah missing.

 

[Vera_dci]

Have to say that I struggle with the idea of being on the phone with a girlfriend who is walking at night through an area of London that’s not wholly safe and not insisting on a “hi i’ve got home” text. Everyone is different I guess but I find this odd and meant that crucial hours were lost (CCTV footage wiped) in not reporting Sarah missing.

I thought this too but they could have had an argument. Lockdown has increased tensions within some relationships. Im thinking stamger attack at the moment but keeping an open mind.

 

[Parmalade]

Have to say that I struggle with the idea of being on the phone with a girlfriend who is walking at night through an area of London that’s not wholly safe and not insisting on a “hi i’ve got home” text. Everyone is different I guess but I find this odd and meant that crucial hours were lost (CCTV footage wiped) in not reporting Sarah missing.

It did strike me as odd at first too, but then a poster above put forward the idea that the call may have ended acrimoniously and then a follow up communication may not have been expected (likewise, the plans next day may have gone up in smoke as a result of a row, meaning the later alarm, or the plans to meet were in the evening anyway, as SE may still have had work on the Thursday?). Also, it may be a very new relationship (it doesn’t appear that they live together) so there MAY be an element of wanting to appear intentionally unkeen. The latter is a stretch I know, especially in terms of late night safety, but you never know.

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

Met Police currently following a potential sighting this morning around 9.45am coming out of Clapham station. They asked person who thought they saw her to contact them. (as posted on Twitter)

Likely to just be someone similar, but... recently in US woman disappeared for several days, car found abandoned. Then a CCTV sighting in a store, and she was found. Story closed so we never knew what happened, but shows these disappearances are sometimes intentional.

 

[Jimmy Pats]

Sad fact is that women and girls are vulnerable in these kind of settings and personally speaking my mind is only put at rest when the girlfriend/female friend is safely at home. Always haunted by the Sally Ann Bowman case where the poor girl was murdered by Mark Dixie literally yards from her front door having left her boyfriend’s car.

 

[swedeheart]

Police search ponds in London in desperate hunt for missing woman, 33, who vanished on her way home | Daily Mail Online

 

[Sainlondon]

It’s also possible that she was supposed to text or call when she got home and then when she didn’t the bf tried to call but couldn’t get through and then just assumed that it was unlikely that anything bad had happened. Maybe multiple more calls the next day got him more worried and then when she didn’t turn up for a meet up things got serious. Perhaps he feels terrible that he didn’t pursue it earlier.

 

[Vera_dci]

Sad fact is that women and girls are vulnerable in these kind of settings and personally speaking my mind is only put at rest when the girlfriend/female friend is safely at home. Always haunted by the Sally Ann Bowman case where the poor girl was murdered by Mark Dixie literally yards from her front door having left her boyfriend’s car.

Yes that was a very sad case and the boyfriend was very much number one suspect in the media ( poor bloke).

 

[Jimmy Pats]

I thought this too but they could have had an argument. Lockdown has increased tensions within some relationships. Im thinking stamger attack at the moment but keeping an open mind.

Possible but from information given they had plans to meet the next day so it didn’t sound like an acrimonious phone call.

 

[Vera_dci]

Possible but from information given they had plans to meet the next day so it didn’t sound like an acrimonious phone call.

Possibly. Maybe they arranged to meet face to face to discuss issues rather than arguing on the phone, ive done this my self . I'm sure the police have/are looking into his whereabouts that night and the following day.

I'm keeping an open mind at the moment until further info is released.

 

[Jimmy Pats]

Possibly. Maybe they arranged to meet face to face to discuss issues rather than arguing on the phone, ive done this my self . I'm sure the police have/are looking into his whereabouts that night and the following day.

I'm keeping an open mind at the moment until further info is released.

Quite right and I’m not especially focused on the boyfriend’s involvement more on the time it took to report Sarah missing. Had there been an understanding that she would text on reaching home the police could have been alerted extremely quickly of her disappearance.

 

[Vera_dci]

Quite right and I’m not especially focused on the boyfriend’s involvement more on the time it took to report Sarah missing. Had there been an understanding that she would text on reaching home the police could have been alerted extremely quickly of her disappearance.

I totally agree. Very sad that Sarah wasn't reported until the following evening. Precious time has been lost.

 

[4441]

This is my first time posting on this forum but i have read different threads over the years. This case is really worrying as it seems like something awful has happened to Sarah on her way home. I live not far from the area - about 2 miles. I have walked around the area many times at night and it is not odd that she would walk. As others have said, walking is the safer option at the moment in the middle of a pandemic. I also use in ear headphones and enjoy long walks with music on. As a previous poster said, the walk through the common is a main pathway. It is not like cutting across a dark path. I think someone has attacked her at some point though. It is really worrying and upsetting and I keep hoping for some better news. She is the same age as my child and went to the same university.

 

[JerricaBenton]

It takes time to establish that someone has gone missing though, at first you probably think their phone is out of charge or they having a long lie-in maybe, or busy at work. Then you contact others to see if they have heard anything. Apart from those I live with, I'm not sure how long it would take me to report someone as missing.

 

[Spyder84]

The delay in reporting her missing could have been related to several factors. Maybe her friends wrongly thought they would have to wait 24hours to report her missing, I believe this is no longer the case.

It could also be that she had plans for the following day that she told her friend about, the one she was visiting, so maybe for her to go off radar for the following day may have been expected and they only really became concerned when she still wasn't back by that afternoon/evening.

I know from personal experience when a friend of mine went missing by the time we realised, we waited for a good few hours before contacting the police and that was with very genuine reason, the same could apply to this situation although the circumstances were very very different.