Martin Allen – Missing for 36 years
On 5th November 1979, a young schoolboy disappeared in broad daylight on his way home from school in London. Like Vishal Mehrotra, he seemed to disappear without a trace but, unlike Vishal, he has not been seen or heard of and no body has been found. It is a mystery and, indeed, a torturous one for Martin’s family. Following new information given to Operation Midland, a new police investigation has been set up to look again at the disappearance of Martin. This is a massive opportunity to get some answers and reach new witnesses. The new Metropolitan Police investigation is called Operation Malswick.
I’ve conversed with Martin’s brother, Kevin, a number of times and what is clear both from from speaking with him and reading Anton Gill’s book, is that Martin was loved. He came from a loving, down-to-earth, close-knit family in a very desirable area of London. The thought that a child can simply disappear in to thin air is hard to comprehend. There was nothing in Martin’s personal life that would indicate he would have run away. On the contrary, Martin was a homely boy who spent most of his time surrounded by his family, who was afraid of the dark, who liked to meet up and travel home with his mum after school and whose loyalty to family caused him to divert his trip that day by heading home to pick up some money to then take to his sister-in-law. The not knowing for 36 years continues to haunt his family and the whole case throws up more questions than answers, especially as new, very odd, information comes to light. Both his parents, Tom and Eileen, have sadly passed away without ever having any answers. I have decided to put together the facts of the case, as well as the story of the events surrounding Martin’s disappearance. Hopefully someone, somewhere, might recall something relevant or offer suggestions for the person identified as a possible abductor. (Please note that some of the witness quotes used may cause offence. This is not intentional – I simply feel it important to report the facts accurately).
On a personal level, what jumped out at me more than anything was that, despite a witness’s claim that Martin was seen on a Richmond-bound District Line train, his disappearance warranted a small paragraph in the local Richmond & Twickenham Times newspaper. Imagine all those commuters that could have been reached had it been given better coverage. Nowadays families can create their own appeals via social media, but back in 1979 you were solely reliant on the goodwill of press editors and programme makers. I have included newspaper reports in this post. They may jog a memory. If you have information regarding Martin’s disappearance – however small – please contact Operation Malswick and help give some closure to his family.
This blog post will be looking at the simple facts of the case at the time. I will follow this up with a second post that will cover the later years and mysterious happenings surrounding Martin’s disappearance.
Martin Allen & Family
Martin and his mum, Eileen
Martin Duncan Allen was born on 19th October 1964 in Islington, North London. He was the youngest child in his family, which consisted of:
- Tom Allen – Father
- Eileen – Mother
- Jeffrey – brother
- Robert (Bob) – brother
- Kevin Allen – brother
- Sue – Sister-in-Law (Bob’s wife)
- Paul – nephew (son of Bob & Sue)
Tom became a chauffeur for the Ambassador of the Australian High Commission and the family moved to a grace & favour cottage in Reston Place, Kensington. This sometimes gave them a birds eye view of the rich and powerful – Martin even managed to photograph Margaret Thatcher as well as meet Charles and Diana.
Kevin and Martin
Description of Martin
- Under 5ft in height – small for his age and much younger looking
- Brown hair
- Brace on his teeth
- Wearing: Dark blue blazer which featured a gold and red quartered shield motif with a scrolled gold and blue motto (see pic below)
- White shirt
- Blue and yellow striped tie
- Grey trousers
- Blue leather ‘POD’ shoes with a white band
- Casio F100 black digital watch
- Gold neck chain with a gold ‘M’ within a circle charm
- In his pockets he had: yellow underground train pass in a clear plastic holder, keys and £1.30 in change.
- Schoolbag: Bright yellow bag with ‘Astral’ in black lettering. Inside was a small knitted blue balaclava within a BHS bag, a ‘Clipper’ model railway transformer, lunch box with ‘Kit Kat’ in red lettering on the lid, school books, ‘My Family & Other Animals‘ book and a calculator.
- Martin was passionate about his bike and had an intricate knowledge of cars. He also loved photography.
Martin’s friends and associates:
- Robert Toft)
- Michael Welsh) Close circle of friends
- David Herzberg)
- Paul Stokes
- Ian Fletcher
- Martin Shann – Martin’s Saturday job boss
- James Aldridge
- David
- Mr Barnes – Martin’s headmaster
- Miss Reading – Martin’s teacher
Martin’s Usual Journey – mornings
In the mornings Martin would initially travel with his brother Jeff. From their home in Hyde Park Gate they would get the Circle Line tube from Gloucester Road to King’s Cross. Martin would change to the Northern Line to Old Street. There he attended The Central Foundation School for Boys in Cowper Street.
Martin’s Usual Journey – afternoons
Martin and his friend, Ian Fletcher, would travel the two stops together from Old Street to King’s Cross on the Northern Line. There – at around 3.50pm – Martin would board a Southbound Piccadilly Line tube (quite often meeting up with his mum, who always sat on the same seat so that he knew where to find her*) and alighted at Gloucester Road – a total of 17 minutes journey. He’d turn left out of the station and cross the Cromwell Road, then walk up Gloucester Road until he reached Reston Place – a 5 minute walk. He would normally reach home at approximately 4.20pm.
*On Monday’s Eileen went to a class after work so would not be able to meet up with Martin and would be home later than normal.
Monday 5th November 1979
Martin had decided to stay at Bob and Sue’s home in Holloway that evening as his mum wouldn’t be home until late and he hated being indoors on his own in the dark. He quite often did this. His mum gave him a small knitted balaclava to take with him for his nephew, Paul, and he also took a model railway transformer for Bob. In the afternoon, he should have got the Northbound Piccadilly Line to head to Holloway except he had made a last minute decision and told friends he was returning home first in order to collect £1 he owed Sue.
As normal, Martin and Ian travelled on the Northern Line from Old Street to King’s Cross. Ian watched Martin walk down the foot tunnel leading to the Southbound Piccadilly Line platform. It was 3.50pm. That was the last time Martin would be seen. There is no evidence he ever arrived home. His items have never been found.
It’s important to remember that in 1979 not many people had telephones in their own homes, and so when Martin’s parents returned home to find him not there on Monday 5th, they assumed that he had gone to Bob and Sue’s as planned. Bob and Sue simply assumed Martin was at home. It wasn’t until Tuesday 6th November 1979, as Eileen dished up the dinner, that it became apparent that Martin was missing – a crucial 24 hours later.
Sightings
Martin was sighted by 10 witnesses between 3.50pm-4.45pm at three stations.
King’s Cross
Witness 1 (Ian Fletcher) stated that both he and Martin had travelled from Old Street to King’s Cross station as usual, where they parted to go their separate ways. He last saw Martin heading down the foot tunnel that lead to the Southbound Piccadilly Line.
Witnesses 2 & 3 (James Aldridge & his friend, David). James states that they went to the same school as Martin and knew him to say “hello” to. As they descended down the escalator towards the Victoria Line they saw Martin on an escalator heading to the Piccadilly Line. Neither of these boys were interviewed by the police despite contacting them.
Gloucester Road:
Witness 4 A woman claimed to have seen a boy matching the description of Martin outside Gloucester Road Station, and said that she saw a man throw a boy against a wall. If this was Martin, it suggests he left the station before going back in.
Witness 5 claimed to have seen a boy matching Martin’s description and a man descending in a lift at Gloucester Road station.
Witness 6 (main witness) who was waiting on the Gloucester Road Westbound Piccadilly Line platform (4), claims he saw a boy matching Martin’s description and a man waiting for the same train. They got on a train heading to Rayner’s Lane but when they reached the next stop (Earls Court), they got off. The boy was described as looking “distressed, uneasy and apprehensive” and didn’t seem to want to leave the train at Earls Court. It is claimed the suspect prodded him in the back twice and said to him “Don’t try to run“. He had hold of the boy by the back of his neck.
Earl’s Court:
Outside: Witnesses 7 & 8 claim to have seen a boy matching Martin’s description and a man at both the Earls Court Road and Warwick Road exits.
Inside: Witness 9 claims to have seen a boy matching Martin’s description and a man board a Northbound District Line train.
Witness 10 – a 12 year old boy claims to have seen a boy matching Martin’s description and a man boarding a Richmond-bound District Line train at approximately 4.30pm. The boy was said to seem “reluctant”.
If this IS the last confirmed sighting of Martin and the suspect, did they alight at any of the following stops?:
- West Kensington
- Baron’s Court
- Hammersmith
- Ravenscourt Park
- Stamford Brook
- Turnham Green
- Gunnersbury
- Kew Gardens
- Richmond
If the emphasis is on the Piccadilly Line (which seems to be a recurring factor in most witness statements) – the following District Line stations had connections back to it:
- Baron’s Court
- Hammersmith
- Turnham Green
Did you use any of the above stations – particularly the bottom three? Do you remember seeing anything unusual?
Suspect
The man seen with Martin was described as follows:
- Aged between 30-40
- Powerfully built
- Approximately 6ft
- Blonde hair
- Moustache
- Denim casual suit with a ‘Levi’ or ‘safari’ type jacket
- Shirt and tie
- Reasonably well spoken
- English
- Described as looking like “a raving poof“.
Please look at the photofit pictures. Do you recognise this man from the past? If so, please contact the Metropolitan Police.
Apart from the description of this man, we know little else aside from the fact he abducted a young boy in broad daylight in front of commuters. Is it possible he had offended before? Did he progress to abduction? Was he based in another country and therefore able to disappear after the abduction?
The police became pretty certain there was no underworld involvement as even they joined in the hunt in order to get the case solved as quickly as possible to stop the police from constantly snooping around.
Are you an ex-police officer that may have dealt with this man before or since? Are you someone who encountered this man in your past? If so, please contact the Metropolitan Police.
Police
Those involved in the investigation:
- DS Tony Polley
- PC Henryk Pycz
- DCI David Veness
- Commissioner Sir David McNee
- DI Bill Ilsley
- Cdr George Rushbrook
- DS Margaret Goodwin
- WPC Gwen Underwood
- PC Kevin Hull
- PC Ian Wilson
- PC William Lambeth
- PC Maurice Maylin
- PC Ted Larwood
Police initially treated Martin’s disappearance as a runaway due to the high levels of children that did so in London. It wasn’t until a few days later they began to suspect that things may have taken a sinister turn and eventually concluded that Martin had been abducted outside Gloucester Road station. As we now know, the initial few hours following a child’s disappearance is crucial but unfortunately, in Martin’s case, this had been lost.
His friends were interviewed but Martin hadn’t confessed to any worries or concerns. His family felt as if they were on trial at times, such was the line of questioning they faced, but police had the job of investigating everyone in Martin’s life. His school painted a picture of a boy who, although timid, was a home-loving, funny boy, who wouldn’t run away, who would be submissive to someone claiming to be in authority but who would put up a fight if necessary.
Fingerprints
One of the strangest aspects of the case – and one that seems to be glossed over – is the absence of fingerprints in Martin’s room – none whatsoever – not even Martin’s own! He was a 15 year old boy and not one single fingerprint of his could be found.
Appeals
The main newspapers that cooperated with the investigation and published many articles on Martin’s disappearance included:
- Kensington & Chelsea News
- Daily Express
- The Sun
- Daily Mail
- The Evening News
A number of reporters obviously met with detectives over the course of the investigation, and as we know from cases such as Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr, those responsible sometimes like to talk to the press.
Were you a reporter on this case? Do you have any information you could share with Martin’s family? Was there someone you had suspicions about at the time?
Further witnesses
Following police appeals, more people came forward:
Witness 11 claims to have seen someone matching the description of the abductor eating in a restaurant in St Helier, Jersey. This came to nothing.
Witness 12 – two months after Martin disappeared a young boy came across the story in an old newspaper whilst in a barber shop which caused him to contact the police. He said that shortly after 5th November he had been walking his dog when he noticed some schoolbooks that had been dumped in the porch of an empty shop in a parade opposite Gloucester Road station. A subsequent search by police found nothing.
Witnesses 13 & 14 were two prostitutes who contacted the police with concerns after a Canadian/German client had expressed an interest in young boys and had let slip certain facts which suggested he may have known something about Martin’s disappearance. Police questioned him but nothing could be proved. (He was already known to Canadian authorities and had been in Canada on or before 5th November).
Outcome of the investigation
Despite the fruitless hunt to find Martin or discover what happened to him, as a result of the investigation, four suspected child abusers were caught. Sadly for Martin’s family, they are no further forward in knowing what happened to Martin on 5th November 1979. More recent press coverage has thrown up more theories and questions, as well as some very surprising events but I will cover these in a follow-up post.
Original newspaper articles
DO YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION REGARDING MARTIN’S DISAPPEARANCE? DO YOU REMEMBER SEEING SOMETHING STRANGE DURING YOUR COMMUTE HOME FROM WORK/SCHOOL? DID YOU EVER COME ACROSS A DISCARDED YELLOW ‘ASTRAL’ BAG? WERE YOU EVER APPROACHED BY A STRANGER MATCHING THE SUSPECT’S DESCRIPTION IN ANY OF THE ABOVE LOCATIONS? If there is anything whatsoever you know – no matter how small – please contact Operation Malswick c/o – Metropolitan Police.
Thank you for taking the time to read this blog. I’d be so grateful if you would reblog to help spread the word on Martin’s case.
Part two – coming soon!
scepticpeg 
Detective-sergeant Tony Polly was in charge of the control room set up in Kensington Police Station at the time of the first investigation. He saw all the information coming in, and all the witness statements.
But at the end, he said he thought that Martin and the man had gone to a flat, ‘near Earls Court Station’. So despite the very good sighting of a boy who looked like Martin, getting onto a Richmond train, they thought that it must have been a mistake.
Why would they leave the front of the station, start walking, end up at the back of the station, only to re-enter the station, and get onto another train? They could have got on the Richmond train without leaving the station !
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I have thought about this and wondered if it was to use a telephone box?
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There was, and still is, a police phone box outside the front of Earls Court Station where they were seen leaving the station. We know they did not turn left and walk towards Kensington Police Station, and if the man was posing as a policeman Martin would have known he could use the police phone. It stands out like a tardis so you couldn’t miss it.
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Yes, I forget there were no mobile phones then, interesting. Are you assuming the last sighting was 4-30, and not 4-45?
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Possibly. I really don’t know. Without specific timings of witness sightings, it’s hard to say.
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It’s not clear from the description whether the exits at District Line level or Piccadilly Line level are meant. At the deep level of the Piccadilly Line platforms there are two lift shafts, one marked “Earl’s Court Road” the other “Warwick Road” and “District Line”. If the witnesses meant that the man and the boy were seen at both the Piccadilly Line exits it suggests a hesitation by them as to which lift to take. If they decided on the Warwick Road lift it would support the witness who saw them taking a Richmond train on the District Line. But again, it isn’t clear from the description which exit is meant.
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I’ve previously had discussions with the David (@approveds) commenting above, who is still managing to give those MI6 operatives who he fears want to kill him the slip…
‘Banging one’s head against a thick brick wall’ doesn’t come close to describing the pointlessness of arguing with those holding an ‘idée fixe’ so rather than go through it all again I’ll just mention the following:
– the Met police recently ‘discovered’ some CCTV footage relating to the death of Stephen Lawrence in 1993. The possibility of a witness description being wrong – in part or whole – is highlighted by this from the BBC’s Tom Symonds:
“Interesting that the Met CCTV of the potential witness in Lawrence case has dark hair, while the EFIT (first released 2013) has light hair”
So from light to dark – just like that! Imagine someone thinking: ‘My God, that description sounds like Dick Dastardly! He used to wear a jacket like that… I ought to call the police… oh, hang on, Dick’s hair is really dark so it can’t be him as they are looking for someone with light hair. I won’t bother.’
For this reason it’s maybe worth mentioning that (a) the boy described as being ‘abducted’ by a load of witnesses who stood around and allowed it to happen may not have been Martin Allen at all, and (b) even if it WAS Martin Allen the description of the ‘abductor’ given long after the event may be wrong in whole or in part.
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@Bandini. You say, ‘description of the ‘abductor’ given long after the event may be wrong in whole or in part’. In fact, you are probably right about that. The witnesses all gave similar descriptions three weeks after the event.
Six main witnesses and other witnesses from other areas. Where you are right, is that the description may be wrong in part. That is a problem that they are aware of. But along with the descriptions are the locations that they were seen.
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I personally think a killer named Brian Field might have killed him. His only available pictures are from the mid-sixties, but it does look a bit like the suspect.
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Was he six foot tall do you know?
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I dunno if it would have been Brian Field’s style? He seemed to focus on crimes that he could commit by getting kids into a car, often with quick access to more rural areas.
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Half term school holidays are the same in Paris as they are in London
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Where is “Part Two- Coming Soon”. It’s been a long time now?
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First of all I wish to thank you for trying to bring attention to this case but I’d like to make a point of correction as to the events of the time leading up to Martins disappearance – we both bunked off the final lesson and left the schools premises approx 2,45pm that afternoon – I walked Martin to the Old Street subway and then I went on to the bus stop to catch the 76 bus home – I know this is incidental and might not help with any witnesses after so many years but it might be useful.
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Dave – Also did Martin mention that he was going home to collect £1, or was going to stay at his brother’s house.
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Dave – That timing is very important. Do you happen to know if Martin spent any money at lunch time?
IAN FLETCHER said he travelled with Martin to Kings Cross, and James Aldridge saw him go down the escalator, and walk towards the Piccadilly line platform.
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I’m afraid I don’t have any memory of the lunchtime of that day nor do I recall if he said he was going to his brothers – I can only assume he did go home first of all as that would explain the hour difference from the time he and I left school at around 2.45pm to the time Ian Fletcher last saw him at 3.50pm – if there is anything else I can help you with then please let me know,
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Dave – Thank you for the reply. The timing is very important as Ian Fletcher said he travelled with Martin from Old Street to Kings Cross, reaching Kings Cross at 3.50pm.
So Martin must have waited at Old Street Station for the others to leave school at 3-30.
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Possibly but it probably means that Martin didn’t go home to get the £1 for Sue as I think the duration of our lessons were 40 minutes so as Martin and I bunked off the last lesson we left the premises at around 2.50pm so I don’t think he would have been able to go home and back by 3.30pm, which asks the question as to why he waited around to then to catch the train.
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Thank you for all this information Dave. Any small amount of info like this may seemingly look irrelevant but it’s actually very relevant. I can amend my blog post as I want it to be an accurate reflection of the facts. Can I ask, did Martin ever mention any problems he was having or new friends he had made outside of school? Also, what was Martin like at school – outgoing, reserved, risk-taker, cheeky, quiet? An idea of his personality whilst he was away from home would help. If you’d prefer, you can email me this info. Let me know and I’ll give you my email address if it’s not already on the blog. Thanks once again.
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Dave – Martin had £1-30 on him in the morning. If he waited at Old Street Station for over half an hour it looks as if, at that point, he was not planning on going to Gloucester Road, his home stop, to collect money.
Was there a place around the station that was popular with boys from your school to buy food etc. Like a Wimpy Bar, or confectionary shop, chip shop etc?
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If it doesnt cause any inconvenience would you mind if we continued this by email? – there is something else regarding a sighting of Martin several years after his disappearance but I was unable to verify this for myself – I couldn’t find your email address on the blog.
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Hi Dave. Please email me at pearlsrock@mail.com I look forward to hearing from you.
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Thanks Peg – I’ll hopefully do that by the end of this week.
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If it doesnt cause any inconvenience would you mind if we continued this by email? – there is something else regarding a sighting of Martin several years after his disappearance but I was unable to verify this for myself – I couldn’t find your email address on the blog.
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Has there been any confirmation or followup regarding the person found in Liverpool with a shrine to Martin in their house in the late 90s. It is still on the Wikipedia entry. Would be interesting to see where that line of enquiry went.
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I think that was a totally false lead unless the person knew something about Gloucester Road Station on the night Martin disappeared. Many people must have used that station but it seems that no one came forward with information that would have been very helpful in finding the crime scene.
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Martin’s brother Kevin states that Martin came home that evening, but left home shortly afterwards. There is confusion about this point which should be cleared up. I agree that the police likeness of the man reportedly seen with Martin resembles Brian Field, but I don’t think anyone would describe Field as a “raving plotter.”
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Martin did not return home that evening, ‘Nov 5th’, that was a mistake made in the Evening Standard?
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Yes, I did read that in the Evening Standard. Kevin clearly says Martin came home and went out again. Are you saying the journalist misquoted Kevin?
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Yes, the journalist misquoted Kevin. There is a lot of confusion and misinformation about the facts, as not only did Martin and his abductor vanish, but the case files also vanished.
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Has Kevin said he was misquoted?
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No, do you think it might be important?
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Yes I do think it’s important as it gives a completely different view as to what happened that evening. If the Evening Standard article is accurate then so many of the other newspaper and website accounts are wrong. By the way, I do not know what happened and rely on accurate reporting to have any reasonable understanding of this very serious and unsolved crime.
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Ñicholas, If Martin did go home that night it was only five minutes from the station so five or ten minutes in the timing does not make that much difference? As most of the papers reported different times anyway. Often the times the papers reported were fifteen minutes different to other papers, and witnesses also gave conflicting times?
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It’s more than just a matter of timing. It also means Martin was on the street for longer than is usually thought and could have met his abductor on his way back to the tube station. It could also mean that the whole tube story is a red herring, and that Martin in fact got into a car somewhere along Gloucester Road. As the investigation is completely stalled, I think it is worth reconsidering everything about this case. Let’s never forget that this harmless boy was almost certainly murdered and the culprit(s) never punished.
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I have NEVER said Martin came and then left a short time later!! I was usually home first as I worked inSeagrave Rd immediately behind Earls Court . I finished work @5pm and I rode a bike to/from work to Hyde pk gate,it took me 10-15 mins to get home. Martin did not get home.
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That should read “raving poofter.”
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Brian Field might have looked like that when he was younger?
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The undated photographs on Google images make Field look arrogant rather than a “poofter”, as I understand the word … but Field was out of prison in 1979.
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LESLIE GODDARD! looked more like the Gloucester rd abductor more than anyone else! check google images.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYVKexMER9Q There are several pictures here of Brian as a young man. There is definitely an resemblance and the MO would fit. I don’t know whether Brian was in London in ’79. His victims and alleged victims look somewhat similar and Martin’s age fits with the rest of his profile. I wonder if he was ever questioned about it and I hope he will be.
I would say Leslie Goddard and Victor Burnett also resembled the identikit.
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Never the less Field, I believe, is under suspicion.
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I have seen a video recording of Field being interviewed by two police officers. Field did not answer any of the questions put to him. Without physical evidence (hair, fibres, fluids) I can’t see the police getting a confession out of him, for Martin Allen or any other of the cases in which he is a suspect.
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Have been reading up on poor Martin’s story. Convinced it was Leslie Goddard who abducted him. Kevin, do you know if he was he ever questioned about it? I really hope you get answers.
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Leslie Goddard does seem to be a reasonable fit, and there was a connection to him and Martin and Kevin’s father through being a chauffeur/taxi driver, but the age seems wrong. I’d be very interested to learn why you strongly believe him to be the man involved though! For my own research/understanding I’ve been making a dossier on the publicly known suspects. Victor Burnett is another close ‘match’. I wonder if it would be worth approaching the original witnesses again?
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Those interviews were a while ago, and while there is no physical evidence, DNA etc, he might still now decide to talk about other crimes.
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Having just recently come to know of this site and have been made aware of the amount of inaccurate reports made by the press and the police i can only agree with Mr Mcaulay that it is of the utmost importance to build an accurate timeline leading to Martins disappearance – it appears that his case was handled ineptly from start to finish and littered with inaccurate reporting – I hope for the sake of his brother Kevin that this will all come to light in no small part from this site which has provided us with the only available platform to bring new evidence to light.
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Thanks DC ! I will be in touch with you I now know who you are! I bear no malice to you as our mutual friend has said Septic is a Lully ladie whom I have been speaking with since op/midland blew up in end of 2014!
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I luvs you Kevster. Martin will never be forgotten – we’ll keep shouting. x
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I doubt if I can help much – I am not a former policeman – but I am trying to understand what happened that November evening. At the time, press reports gave me the impression that Martin was a rent boy who hung around Kings Cross station. This is quite wrong and I only mention it to illustrate how confused and misleading the general reporting has been.
There are similarities between Martin and Roy Tuthill, who was definitely murdered by Brian Field. They were both about the same age, build and general description. Both were returning from school about the same time in the evening and were wearing their school uniform. Both seem to have been quite shy boys, and were on their own. The man described as being with Martin on the tube train resembles Field facially, but was said to be 6 foot tall whereas Field is only about 5’8″ or 5’9″. Also Field’s method of abduction was to lure the boy into a car, which is not the case here. I cannot find any evidence that Field operated in London, or was connected with any of the gangs (like Sydney Cooke’s) that were around at the time, or worked as a driver for a car hire firm. Finally, the poster campaign led absolutely nowhere, and may have spoilt the investigation by wasting time on something that never happened. Referring to the Tuthill case, there were convincing witness sightings of a boy getting into a grey Austin Westminster. Looking into this took many hours of police time and was finally demonstrated to be irrelevant as Field drove a white Mini.
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If anyone knows the Allen family, please reassure them that Martin’s disappearance has not been forgotten. The parents were very badly treated by the Met.
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I’m here! I am Kevin ,Martins bro and the person that has driven Martins now 6th investigation the person that has discovered the inept police the dodgy goings on from the first stages of investigation number 1
How a DCI can get to commander in the MPs in 6yrs beggars belief yet he did there is a catalogue of COCK-ups by him right through to 2000… horrific cock ups! Then he was knighted. Check out the UNTOUCHABLES he is #5 also figured in the princess of Wales after math..
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I’m on Twitter as keviboy allen
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Thanks for replying Kevin. You are saying that the last confirmed sighting of Martin was when he left his school friends to change on to the Piccadilly line at Kings Cross, and it is unknown whether he got out at Gloucester Road. I still think the whole case must be reexamined, perhaps by an outside force, the FBI, an Australian or Canadian agency. Do you know if the connection with the car hire firm in Waterloo was fully investigated? Martin must have encountered someone he knew, perhaps one of the part time drivers.
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Would it help if I put a short, new blog together (linked to this one) with the new timescales on it? I’m so determined to put the facts out there so if there is any other info that people feel should be included, please do let me know.
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Yes please, Peg. I think every thing possible should be done to keep people informed and also put pressure on the authorities to solve this case.
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Ok, I will endeavour to do it as soon as I can.
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one of the very last people is in this thread! david!!
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Martins case was sort of looked at back in the day when unbeknown to the Met the ASS (I think that’s the abbreviation of the Australian Secret Service) Came over for approximately 9 months and investigated because of the Embassy connection I found this out via Ross Coultard the investigative reporter @ C9 when he did the featurett for Aussi Tv .. he even chased them up for me but because it’s very secretive they only gave him snippets of info which didn’t really amount to much!
I’m very great full that he did that in his own time I will post the link although it’s on YouTube anyways thank you for you’re support Nicholas. Don’t forget I’m on twitter as @keviboyallen 👍
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Questions for Kevin –
(By the way, a Wikipedia page titled “Disappearance of Martin Allen” is calling you “Jeffrey” : “Allen’s brother Jeffrey alleged that the detective responsible for the original 1979 investigation was told to stop the case and “not take it further because someone will get hurt”. Can you fix that, or would you like someone else to? I will, if you wish)
That Evening Standard article had a lot of very odd ideas in it. Did that woman just make the whole thing up? Perhaps she just exploited you and Martin’s case to write a fictional version that would fit her personal fantasies about it? For example, she said:
[They phoned Martin’s best friend, Robert, who told them Martin had not been at school. “My parents called the police. My brother and I got in the car ”what do
you do? Where do you drive? We went to King’s Cross, where there was lots of
child prostitution”]
That strongly suggests someone in your family thought Martin was prostituting himself. You didn’t really say that?
Not that long ago, you seemed to be endorsing the idea that Martin had been murdered during the filming of a child snuff porn video filmed at Amsterdam’s Blue Boy club, while Leon Brittan looked on. You don’t believe that now, I assume?
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Justin your on twitter right? Jeff is my oldest brother he has not been the driving force of Martins disappearance! it has always been me.The DCI who is 5th on the untouchables list asked me what i thought had happened to Martin.
i said i thought he had been taken by rich vip elites as only someone with Big money could do such a thing! he then said if you keep saying things like that you could get hurt!
The Evening standard article was very wrong they sent a green horn in to interview me.I still speak to Robert he knows Martins case very well that is also incorrect, the trip to Kings cross is fact thats were we thought all of that kind of stuff happened and it did at that time, and my other brother Bob lived in Caledonian rd a stones throw from Kings Cross.
The Amsterdam stuff was something that was being banded about Warwick Spinks was lurking about taking kids and i might have been suggested no one knows,
I do still believe “NICK” he has given allegations some have proven correct only someone that had been taken to some of the horror places can describe them i.e. the secret military establishments.
Ted Heath has been sent to the cps but will probably be binned as “won’t be of public interest” a PM would defy be in the publics interest dead or alive!
Leon Brittan was not proven innocent but was on the rape allegation of the girl known as Jane.
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That’s true – Leon Brittan was never cleared of the allegations of child abuse. The press span their stories to make it look like that had happened. Everyone knows he was a nonce. Two separate coppers came forward to say they had investigations in to Brittan halted from high up the food chain.
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Kev, sorry about your loss. Yes, saw the story on 60 Minutes a few years ago (Sun. 19 July 2015) and have been haunted by it ever since. There’s a book called ‘The Secret Life of Oscar Wilde: An Intimate Biography, Hardcover – 20 Apr 2005 by Neil McKenna (Author)’. It’s available at Amazon UK and it reveals so much, e.g. the London men’s clubs and how “respectable gentlemen” would finish off their nights by being supplied a young boy, etc. (Such surroundings obviously corrupted Wilde.) Just thinking about your brother Martin, he had only just turned 15, two weeks and four days earlier (19 Oct ’79.), and then the disappearance / abduction happened on Guy Fawkes Day, 5 Nov. The reality is we start to become aware of our sexuality at around say, 11, 12 years of age, and certainly by 13 we’re fully aware of our bodily functions, to put it crudely. So I’m sort of suspecting (unbeknown to you and your family) that Martin may or would have had some earlier sexual encounters and, indeed with same sex males at some point, and that unfortunately that then led him into that seedy underworld of homosexuals. And then obviously something terrible must have happened for him not to return home again. It’s a terrible thing, feel for you mate. Oh yes, and Martin did look younger than his 15 years so that too would have been a magnet, an attraction for the child abusers. (Let’s also not forget the disappearance of Madeleine McCann on 3 May, 2007 in Portugal. She was only 9 days shy of her 4th birthday, and alas she too has never been seen again.) Obviously there are some very wicked people out there.
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What a disgraceful and irresponsible thing to post – how dare you make such insinuations about Martin!!!
You have absolutely no evidence to suggest such a thing and frankly it seems like you have your own agenda for doing so!
Utter garbage!
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A disgraceful and baseless thing to post!
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Out of respect for Martin and his family I would not like to speculate on Martin’s private feelings. It is however reasonable to say that he was abducted by adults, some of whom may still be alive and who should be punished for what they did,
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If indeed Martin was gay (and nobody knows for sure one way or another), then I’m afraid that’s all too plausible. Speaking as a gay man myself who’s around 12 years younger than Martin, gay teenagers too often ended up in potentially very dangerous situations because society simply did not allow them to have any kind of healthy outlet. Being ‘out’ to anyone risked violence, bullying, massive discrimination and in all too many cases, being thrown out of the family home. Having a boyfriend was impossible. Gay people were treated horrifically – the law had only partially decriminalised homosexuality and you could still be arrested simply for looking at another man (it was known as importuning). So, gay people were pushed into quite a demimonde on the edges of society. The police were just as grossly homophobic as the rest of the population, so a huge amount of crime against gay people went unreported.
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You are correct, many young men were arrested for importuning, which did not involve actually doing anything at all, other than being in the wrong place. So called ‘pretty policeman’, dressed similar to the way witnesses described the man seen with Martin, would hang around public toilets, like the one at Gloucester Road Station, looking to arrest someone.
However in this case the man actually said he was a policeman when challenged by a member of the public, and claimed to be arresting the boy.
However we know he was not a real policeman, and had Martin agreed to be taken to Kensington Police Station, near Earls Court Station, the man would have had to let him go.
However they left the front of Earls Court Station using the long emergency stairs where the ‘policeman’, offered Martin an alternative to being charged and having his parents and friends hearing about this.
Had this mad admitted to being gay, Martin would not have agreed to go to the man’s house instead of the police station.
The man was a school teacher, and would have probably told Martin that he used to be a teacher before he joined the police, saying that a school would have dealt with the matter privately, without the need for anyone else to know.
So we have blackmail from the ‘straight man’. A simple trick that had probably worked many times before without any problems.
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The Wikipedia article on the Martin Allen case was previously very detailed, but were sometime during the later year suddenly gutted out, even removing the phantom image. A bit peculiar, as no explanation was given on the talkpage.
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Hey, where did my comment go?
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Dave C., sorry, I was merely trying to narrow it down, meaning the possibilities. We all want answers. Apologies to Martin’s family, most sincerely, no hurt intended. Wonder if Coulthart will give us an update on the investigation come July this year as it will be 3 years since the story first aired on 60 Minutes. I think he will.
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Bob, are you in Australia? Justice Lowell Goddard, from New Zealand, is also very interested in what happened. She went to Australia to talk to people about this while she was working in London. As you say, Ross Coulthart did a very good job with the film 60 minutes.
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David, respectfully at this point it might be wiser to keep my location unknown (it’s not in any way relevant), for the simple reason up above my initial comment there are some absolute doozy revelations concerning King’s Cross Station. Kevin: “My parents called the police. My brother and I got in the car ”what do you do? Where do you drive? We went to King’s Cross, where there was lots of child prostitution”]
“the trip to Kings cross is fact[.] that[‘]s w[h]ere we thought all of that kind of stuff happened and it did at that time, and my other brother Bob lived in Caledonian rd a stone[‘]s throw from Kings Cross.”
“The Amsterdam stuff was something that was being band[i]ed about[.] Warwick Spinks was lurking about taking kids and i might have been suggested[.] no one knows,”
“only someone that had been taken to some of the horror places can describe them i.e. the secret military establishments.”
Also Peg queries: “Can I ask, did Martin ever mention any problems he was having or new friends he had made outside of school? Also, what was Martin like at school – outgoing, reserved, risk-taker, cheeky, quiet? An idea of his personality whilst he was away from home [and family] would help.”
Dave C., respectfully I think I’ve been somewhat vindicated in what I initially said, though I’m not here to argue with anyone, merely interested in the case and where it goes to from here. If Martin’s ‘6-foot tall’ abductor was indeed a ‘blond Spaniard’, did the Spanish cops ever assist in the investigation, and if not, why not?
The whole thing’s so tragic.
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There is some confusion here. The first thing Martin’s family did was to drive to Kensington Police Station. At that time, the last sighting of Martin was at Kings Cross, and it was unsure if he had actually got on his train home. However much later new witnesses came forward saying they had seen him at Gloucester Road Station, and at Earls Court Station, so Kings Cross became less important.
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Since becoming interested in this case several years ago, I am of the strong conviction that it is very highly likely that Martin knew his abductor. It struck me that Martin was a responsible sort of boy and had routines so to forget a one pound note for his sister in law knowing he was going to see her later seems odd. He also wouldn’t have gone off with a stranger easily. Also, why did he go off to King’s Cross by himself (and then return to Old Street)? What did he do there and who did he see in that time? Given that Martin was close to ‘that sphere’ it seems way too coincidental for his abduction to be random.
It’s also sad to note that where Martin was last seen at Earl’s Court, Dolphin Square was not too far away.
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Am I correct in thinking that the last sighting of Martin was inside a station? If it was him & he was being led by someone who was a so-called “VIP”, I wonder if there is a chance that they took a route which was out of sight to the public. There are tunnels & passageways leading every which way under London. If this person was someone with access to any of those, it could maybe explain why the trail stops there.
My grandfather worked for Royal Mail a very long time ago. When I was a kid he told me about those tunnels some foot tunnels & some for trains or carts, the ones the Post Office used to use & the Telephone Exchange used, the others that lead to certain buildings or from one underground station to another or sometimes to doors that lead to the street. Apparently there are lakes & rivers & all sorts.
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I did look at other possible routes out of Earls Court Station. But I think they left the station using the emergency stairs, which bypassed the ticket collector. They were seen outside the station in Earls Court Road, then again, outside the Station in Warwick Road. So they must have used one of the side roads to reach Warwick Road.
However, they must have re-entered Earls Court Station, from Warwick Road, as they were seen sitting together on a seat waiting for a Richmond Train. They were then seen getting on the Richmond bound train at 4-45pm.
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I’m not sure where to put this comment, but Martin Allen’s page seems appropriate, The Operation Orchid team came to the conclusion there were about 20 unsolved cases of school-age boys disappearing up to about 1990. If I take Martin and Vishal Mehrotra, then the three cases solved by Orchid: Tildsley, Swift and Lewis, then add Kevin HIcks, Lee Boxwell (still unsolved) and also Roy Tutill (unsolved at the time of the Orchid enquiry) that is eight out of the 20, suggesting about 15 cases remain unsolved. Does anybody know who these boys were? Did they all come from the general area of London, or were they from the whole UK? We know about the Cooke gang,although no one knows how many they killed, and Brian Field probably murdered more than one victim, but 12 unsolved cases could mean that there was another serial murderer of boys at work during the 1970s to 1990s whose existence has never been acknowledged by the police. Am I mistaken to think this? Is there another explanation? I’m interested to hear what others think.
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Yes, I have some small newspaper articles citing the names of a few boys that police were looking into at the time of Orchid, plus there is the list that Leslie Bailey gave police during his interview (although it was sketchy.)
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Thanks Peg, I’ll follow that up.
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To name a few, Nicholas:
Steven Newing, 1969
Phillip Green, 1970
Mark Billington, 1984. Still not solved, despite certain sources saying it has.
Sean McGann, 1979
David McCaig, 1970
Billy Holloway, 1962
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Some further info about the additional names, and also some of the people on your list there:
In ‘Lambs to the Slaughter’ (the definitive book about the Sidney Cooke gang, they list the following potential victims that Leslie Bailey told them about. They all appear to be from the London area. There seems to be absolutely nothing about any of them online:
*Michael Maughan, a young boy from a traveller family who disappeared after a trip to the West End with his sister. Bailey referred to him as ‘The Gypsy boy’. The book says that young boys from traveller families featured heavily in the police enquiries at the time.
*Desmond Ingram, 14. He disappeared on his way home from school in Islington. This case proved to be embarrassing for all involved as he’d actually returned home later and the parents hadn’t bothered to inform the police (!)
*Paul James, 16. An epileptic, he disappeared after leaving his home in Brixton to go to the West End.
*Michael Monaghan, 16. Disappeared from a kids’ home in Middlesex, It was later claimed that Monaghan was alive and living rough, but police were unable to verify it.
*An unknown boy whose name Bailey couldn’t remember.
*With regard to Lee Boxell, I strongly recommend the podcast ‘The Investigator’ by Mark Williams-Thomas. He did a very thorough re-investigation of Lee’s case and spoke to many people in the local area, uncovering some new info. He’s as sure as he can be that Lee was murdered by William Lambert, a paedophile who preyed on young girls at a church youth club. It’s believed Lee was killed when he witnessed something happening and may have tried to intervene. They also uncovered a local police officer involved in the paedophile ring, and some hints were dropped that the local vicar may have been involved too. Another witness also came forward to talk about what turned out to be another paedophile in the local area. This man worked in a local bike workshop in Sutton and had groomed the victim when he was 14. The man was into dangerous S&M sex, had cameras in his house to film it, and left the boy in fear of his life on at least one occasion. The victim also said that he was taken to Brighton by this man, where he discussed snuff videos with associates in a nightclub.
*The Kevin Hicks case is a very strange one. Ostensibly, he would seem to have been too old and too tall to be much interest to many paedophiles. The police believe though that he was being groomed (unclear if they actually may have meant in the way crime gangs groom kids to get involved in crime, rather than sexually) and believe he was given a stereo as part of the process. His sister though is adamant that he bought it with his own savings. It’s all speculation, but the main theory seems to be that Kevin was secretly gay and may have met his end when he was attacked in a local gay cruising area. Gay men are still being attacked in one area local to Kevin and it seems the police may have searched this area thoroughly when he disappeared.
*Croydon and its surrounding areas, where Kevin Hicks and Lee Boxell lived, seem to have been awash with various paedophiles in the 80s. Many different offenders (apart from ‘The Dirty Dozen’) have been prosecuted in recent years for crimes committed back then, including a local football coach, a local teacher, and a Fagin type character who groomed kids by paying them money to do odd jobs, then turned violent on them.
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Kevin Hicks is interesting because a boy who used to ride a bike around with him said that strange men used to hang around in what was known locally as Bingham Park.
He said they used to talk to kids. Bingham Park is near to the shop Kevin said he was heading for, but given the fact he left his keys at home, probably in case he lost them in the dark, the eggs were probably an excuse.
The boy also said that one of the men who used to hang around in Bingham Park worked at the local Cooperative shop.
This seems odd as Kevin used to work at that shop every weekend.
A woman who also worked at the shop the police she saw Kevin much later near his home , was she trying to cover for someone?
Some years later a woman left a message at the police station saying she knew what had happened to Kevin, but she never phoned back. Could that have been the same woman!
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My arithmetic went awry: it should read “12 to 15 unsolved cases”.
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As far as I am aware there is only one lift shaft at Earls Court, going up to ground level from the Piccadilly line. The other is an escalator going up to the District Line?
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Hello Peg and everyone. Like you (except for Kevin) I have no attachment to this case, other than someone who is for some reason very deeply affected by this case. I want to see it resolved one day. One thing that has been pointed out to me is the Gloucester Station had a toilet that was used as a gay meeting place hook up spot. I’m not suggesting that Martin used it for anything else than what it was originally meant for, but it is an interesting coincidence given the likelihood of where is is thought Martin was first picked up from.
Like everyone else I have no clue as to what happened, but I have some theories- all of which are purely circumstantial:
Martin was stalked by middle man who then provided him to the ‘Elite’: The Allens lived and worked in the sphere of the Elite. While Martin usually went to his brother’s house on Mondays, he did not do this all the time. Did his abductor work out the route over a period of a few weeks and catch Martin off guard that day by chance? The Elm Guest House is not that far from where they were last seen in North End Road. Martin could have been held for a time and then picked up in a car. Kevin’s accusation seemed to have struck a chord.
Sidney Cooke and his associates were known to be connected to Martin’s father in the way of the chauffeur company. Martin and Kevin washed cars during the summer holidays.
Lone wolf theory: It has been suggested that the abductor was dressed in the plain clothes uniform of a ‘gay ops’ police man. Given the location of a gay hook up space and them being seen in the general direction of the police station, Martin could have be initially tricked into believing this man was a police man. What would have he been held on I have no idea. The brazenness of the attack and the reliance on public transport might also suggest that this was a spur of the moment plan rather than a premeditated one.
This might sound a bit crazy, but what are the chances of the ‘man’ wearing some sort of disguise and/or altering his appearance? I.e a fake moustache? Bleached hair?
Questions I have:
It is stated in the book (Martin Allen is Missing) that he bunked off French and would sometimes appear at home earlier. If this is correct, why did Martin wait for at least half an hour to go home to collect the pound?
Was there any change in Martin’s mood/behaviour leading up to the 5th?
Kevin, did you notice anyone hanging around your house in Hyde Park Gate? Did anyone there give you bad vibes? What made you think that a VIP had taken him?
Were nearby waterways and parks searched for Martin or his belongings?
Thank you
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This is a fantastic, clearly worded blog! Thank you. This case feels like a jigsaw puzzle where most of it has been put together, but crucial pieces are missing. I have hope Martin will be found and/or his killer named. The man who was with him existed and if still alive would be in his late 70s. He would also have friends and family, would may have had their suspicions.
An idea I have relates to theory that serial killers keep trophies. I’d bet my bottom dollar the chain and pendant was kept, maybe given to someone or sold. It was too valuable to Martin and significant to be thrown away.
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“Detective Chief Inspector Chris Jones who was leading Operation Malswick out of Barking has retired.
He was criticised over Stephen Port case case where it was said that homophobic attitudes may have led to the case not being solved faster.
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Dennis Storey doesn’t seem to have been mentioned. He was named in ‘Lambs to the Slaughter’ (the definitive book about the Sidney Cooke victims) as being one of the suspects in Martin Allen’s disappearance. Dennis Storey seems not to have been connected to the Cooke gang but was routinely questioned in connection with the Barry Lewis disappearance and cleared. He committed suicide subsequently. Does anyone have any further information about him?
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He was certainly much older than the man that was seen with Martin Allen at Gloucester Road Station and Earls Court Station by at least seven witnesses.
We also don’t know how tall Dennis Storey was. Detectives leading the original enquiry said that it was definitely Martin Allen seen by those witnesses, including describing his yellow sports bag, and the metal brace on his teeth.
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@logistist – It’s very interesting that you talk about groups of strange men in the park with the Kevin Hicks case. A friend of mine is about ten years younger than Kevin and lived in the Thornton Heath area of Croydon in the 80s / 90s. He said that groups of strange men used to hang round his nearest park, winterbourne Rec (think it’s called Thornton Heath Rec now) and bother the kids. The park keeper would have to ask them to leave. When I told him that groups of men had been discussed in Kevin’s disappearance, it genuinely unsettled him.
He also told me of two other events. The first is when he was 15 and had a Saturday job in a Croydon shoe shop. He said a man came into the shop and started to chat him up. He took him to a pub for a drink that night (aged 15! says a lot about Croydon and the 90s) and said he was going away for the weekend and if my friend went with him, he’d pay. He also took a photograph of my friend. My friend said that after that night he never heard anything again from that man, but did see him once in Croydon and the man blanked him. I suspect my friend may have had a lucky escape. Sounds like he was being lined up for something and at 15, he was probably too old.
The second incident happened at Croydon swimming pool. My friend said that when he was 12, a much older man came up to him in the showers and started massaging his shoulders.
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