Deceased/Not Found UK - Steven Clark, 23, disabled, Saltburn, Dec 1992

[crazychris]

If they did kill him, which I think's unlikely, where's the body? He was a big lad. They were both ex-cops so would have some knowledge of police procedure. They weren't daft enough to hide it in the garden or the house. Maybe miles away but that would mean them carrying him. <modsnip: Negative speculation on someone not named a POI> Are there any lakes near there and have the police ever sent divers in?

I still think he was led away from the toilets whilst his mum was still inside. Then who knows.

 

[MsMiniSleuth]

Are there any confirmed eye-witnesses to “the walk” even happening?

MOO

Doris alleges there were two men and s child outside the gents toilets at same time she and Steven were there. Each male going in separately as one waited outside with youngster. Now surely at least one of these adults, or even the child depending on age, would have seen her at least, if not him? Were these never found and spoken to?

 

[shiraz]

Agree/had similar thoughts with many of these - particularly in regards to him feeling stifled at home and wanting to break away. Why I said previously, maybe he had planned something that day, hence why didn't want to go to thd football, before mother coerced him into going on walk. Then he found tye opportunity when she was in toilet to make a getaway to meet someone he had been in cohorts with...

I don't think he committed suicide. Either somewhere as he was making way home after missing mother, he had an accident, or he went with someone.

I'm not sure the walk actually happened and I would have thought that if Steven had planned to leave home then he wouldn't have left his wallet, watch and glasses behind.

 

[crazychris]

I'm not sure the walk actually happened and I would have thought that if Steven had planned to leave home then he wouldn't have left his wallet, watch and glasses behind.

I don't think he planned to leave home at all.

 

[hettywainthropp]

With Regards To The Witness Who Claims To Have Seen Steven Walking Towards The Ship Inn

So, a witness claims to have seen Steven walking towards The Ship Inn around the time he is claimed to have gone missing. It's not clear if anyone at the Inn claimed to have seen Steven, so it appears not. The other thought I have is that he is claimed to be walking in the direction of the sea (opposite the direction of his home). It is suggested there could have been a disagreeement earlier that day, could Steven have been upset and decided to end his life by entering the water? Huntcliff, a place that seems to be some sort of forest is also in the direction he was said to be headed. Could he have been going to meet someone in the forest?

What do we know about his social life? There is little mention of it in the articles that I've read. Some disabled people are very socially isolated.

Steven was allegedly seen near The Ship pub in Marske heading towards his home. It was not the Ship Inn at Saltburn.

 

[Alyce]

Mainly the reason seems to be the girl who knew him well who says she saw him and another who saw him at the same road junction with a grey-haired man in a grey coat. Most think the parents' stories have more holes in them than a crumpet though but still doesn't make them killers.

Yes, I noticed that too. Seen with a man in his fifties, balding with grey hair. The camera then focused on the dad who just shrugged it off. Very subtle if intentional.

This is a photo of Charles Clark, taken in October 1993 ( Charles age 51 )

link for photo

Elderly parents of 23-year-old who disappeared in 1992 to police station | Daily Mail Online

 

[shiraz]

This is a photo of Charles Clark, taken in October 1993

Someone else posted this and I realise now that if the sighting was genuine it couldn't have been him. The police seem to think that the girl wouldn't have been able to see at all clearly as her window was a long way from the street and it was dark. IMO I don't think it was a genuine sighting.

 

[Inspector Evans]

This is what I want to know and I know a few people have asked if the people outside the toilet that Doris claims she saw ever came forward.

Also, what would there have been in terms of CCTV back then? I wasn't alive in 1992, but I know it was starting to be introduced in the 90s, I'd have hoped a major store would have some basic form of CCTV outside.

Remote hope in those times I'm afraid. If there were it would be useful if Charles Clark had been spotted driving out at Marske between half 1-2 on that day to go to the Boro game so at least you feel very confident his alibi on that day stands up.

 

[Inspector Evans]

If they did kill him, which I think's unlikely, where's the body? He was a big lad. They were both ex-cops so would have some knowledge of police procedure. They weren't daft enough to hide it in the garden or the house. Maybe miles away but that would mean them carrying him. <modsnip: Negative speculation on someone not named a POI> Are there any lakes near there and have the police ever sent divers in?

I still think he was led away from the toilets whilst his mum was still inside. Then who knows.

<modsnip: Quoted post was modsnipped>

Whatever happened it was well planned out with him no closer to being found 30 years later.

 

[Kitkat28]

None, according to the statement released by the police. Despite Doris saying that there were lots of people around.

I'm not sure the walk actually happened and I would have thought that if Steven had planned to leave home then he wouldn't have left his wallet, watch and glasses behind.

I agree with you. I don’t think they ever went for that walk. I find it bizarre that in a place where presumably people knew each other, and a man like Steven would have been fairly distinctive, people didn’t come forward and say “oh yes I saw them here or there or wherever”. I don’t believe they were the only people out walking that day between their house and the toilets. Surely the men with the little girl would have recognised themselves at some point over the last 30 years.

I don’t think Steven left the house that day at all. I’m not convinced he was even still in the house by that point.

As for the “anonymous” letter, let’s just say I think the mis-spelling on the envelope was done on purpose, and the police know exactly who wrote it.

All MOO JMO

 

[Streetspirit]

As for the “anonymous” letter, let’s just say I think the mis-spelling on the envelope was done on purpose, and the police know exactly who wrote it.

All MOO JMO

the police do know who wrote it. She came forward and said she didn’t know the Clark’s or Steven but that she wrote it on “good faith”.

not sure what that means exactly but I assumed she had heard rumours, as has everyone around here, and she wrote it based off that.

 

[Viewer]

If they did kill him, which I think's unlikely, where's the body? He was a big lad. They were both ex-cops so would have some knowledge of police procedure. They weren't daft enough to hide it in the garden or the house. Maybe miles away but that would mean them carrying him. <modsnip: Negative speculation on someone not named a POI> Are there any lakes near there and have the police ever sent divers in?
y plausible.
I still think he was led away from the toilets whilst his mum was still inside. Then who knows.

I think murder is quite unlikely, but manslaughter, or an accidental death, in a struggle, which has then been concealed, strikes me as very plausible.

 

[Kitkat28]

I think murder is quite unlikely, but manslaughter, or an accidental death, in a struggle, which has then been concealed, strikes me as very plausible.

Does that ever really happen though? It’s often theorised on here that “maybe the victim was killed accidentally” but can anyone actually remember a single case where that was the outcome?

 

[crazychris]

Does that ever really happen though? It’s often theorised on here that “maybe the victim was killed accidentally” but can anyone actually remember a single case where that was the outcome?

No, to be honest I can't.

 

[Morag]

He had a girlfriend. The parents didn’t seem to approve. He was ‘tight’ in that he wouldn’t pay for his own ticket (despite his having been awarded £1000, which he hadn’t picked up). Perhaps he was saving his money for a move out of his home. Perhaps the payout from his childhood accident was meant to have been held in trust until he was 21, but perhaps it hadn’t been.
That was a point at which a major family disagreement could have ensued.

 

[CrackerC119]

Someone else posted this and I realise now that if the sighting was genuine it couldn't have been him. The police seem to think that the girl wouldn't have been able to see at all clearly as her window was a long way from the street and it was dark. IMO I don't think it was a genuine sighting.

I've looked at the houses on that street and they are set back quite far from the street. It's just, I find it hard to believe someone could mistake Steven's unique walk. She also seemed to have been looking long enough to notice that the potential Steven appeared to be trying to catch up with the man. I'm thinking she saw someone who looked like Steven and went to the window for a closer look.

 

[Kitkat28]

He had a girlfriend. The parents didn’t seem to approve. He was ‘tight’ in that he wouldn’t pay for his own ticket (despite his having been awarded £1000, which he hadn’t picked up). Perhaps he was saving his money for a move out of his home. Perhaps the payout from his childhood accident was meant to have been held in trust until he was 21, but perhaps it hadn’t been.
That was a point at which a major family disagreement could have ensued.

I’m interested in why this supposed “girlfriend” wasn’t mentioned at the time. Where has the idea come from? It seems to be a fairly new thing.

 

[Morag]

Here’s at least one story mentioning the girlfriend, and somewhere on the thread, there’s a story about Steven having met her parents.
Missing man 'on his way to parents suspected of killing him he vanished'
If the Clarks had moved to Marske only recently (within the last year), I wonder if the girl lived in the previous town? Maybe Steven was unhappy with the move.
And the garage on the Clark house would have meant that their car could be loaded without being overlooked. Mr. Clark’s drive back from the game would have been in the dark, and there could have been spots along the way...

 

[Kitkat28]

Here’s at least one story mentioning the girlfriend, and somewhere on the thread, there’s a story about Steven having met her parents.
Missing man 'on his way to parents suspected of killing him he vanished'
If the Clarks had moved to Marske only recently (within the last year), I wonder if the girl lived in the previous town? Maybe Steven was unhappy with the move.
And the garage on the Clark house would have meant that their car could be loaded without being overlooked. Mr. Clark’s drive back from the game would have been in the dark, and there could have been spots along the way...

Oh I know it’s been mentioned here, but it seems to have been a very recent addition to the original story. If you go back even to the beginning of this thread, news reports don’t seem to have included anything about a girlfriend, unless I just missed it.

 

[HongKongPhooey]

Oh I know it’s been mentioned here, but it seems to have been a very recent addition to the original story. If you go back even to the beginning of this thread, news reports don’t seem to have included anything about a girlfriend, unless I just missed it.

In the article shared by Morag, it says the cold case review team established he had a girlfriend. So possibly it wasnt known during the original investigation (which seems hard to believe you would think).

 

[Viewer]

No, to be honest I can't.

It is in fact quite a common plea, for example, where H has hit or strangled W in a domestic quarrel and then panicked and hidden the body. There have been many such cases.