Brother’s plea over mystery of the ‘Milk Carton Kids’ Appeal after schoolboys went missing 20 years ago
THE brother of a Birmingham schoolboy who went missing with a friend 20 years ago has made a desperate plea for information – so he can finally be laid to rest.
Patrick Warren and David Spencer left their homes in Chelmsley Wood, in Solihull, to visit a relative on Boxing Day 1996 but never arrived. They became known as the ‘Milk Carton Kids’ after their faces featured on cartons in a ground-breaking campaign.
Twenty years on, David’s younger brother, Lee O’Toole, has spoken for the first time about the nightmare his family has endured over two decades.
The 29-year-old said he had now come to terms with the fact that his brother must be dead – but needs to know what happened, and where David is.
And Lee said he was convinced someone somewhere had a small piece of information that could lead police to his body.
David, who was 13, and Patrick, then aged 11, had told their mothers they were going out to visit one of Patrick’s brothers, who lived nearby.
It was the last their families ever saw or heard from them.
Despite several appeals for information, and several reviews of the case, no-one has ever been charged in connection with the boys’ disappearance.
Speaking for the first time about his loss, Mr O’Toole, who was just nine when David disappeared, said: “It has been very tough over the years. Mum spent time in mental hospitals, dad worked all hours to keep a roof over our heads and I suffered with terrible nightmares.
“I have come to terms with the fact that David is dead, but it’s the not knowing what happened, or where he is, that is so hard. I can’t explain how rough it has been for us, and it will stay rough until we get some closure. “We need to be able to lay him to rest, to have somewhere to go to visit him, but the not knowing leaves a big void in our lives. “I am absolutely convinced that somebody, somewhere, knows something. I am begging them to come forward with that information, no matter how small.” Ten years ago the families were given fresh hope when West Midlands Police re-opened the case and officers interviewed convicted murderer Brian Field, who was in his 70s at the time. Field was jailed for life in 2001 for the kidnap, rape and murder of Surrey schoolboy Roy Tutill in 1968. He was living near the boys’ homes in Rowood Drive, Solihull, working as a gardener and odd-job man, when they went missing.
Officers dug up a field nearby in Old Damson Lane in a bid to find clues but abandoned their search several weeks later after finding nothing of significance.
Field denied any involvement the boys’ disappearance.
Before they disappeared, the boys were seen by a police officer playing on Meriden Lake, which was frozen. The youngsters were warned of the dangers of playing on the ice. It was after returning home the pair told their parents of their plans to visit one of Patrick’s brothers.
The last known sighting was at a Shell petrol station in Chelmsley Wood just after midnight, where an attendant gave them a packet of biscuits. They were reported missing on the morning of December 27, 1996. Patrick’s red Apollo bicycle, a prized Christmas gift, was found behind the petrol station.
Police said that the investigation into the disappearance of the two boys continues. in