Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
MYSTERY OF NOTE TO POLICE ‘NAMING KILLER OF MISSING STEVEN’
PARTS of a mystery letter claiming to name the killer of a man missing for 28 years are being published here for the first time.
Police investigating the disappearance of Steven Clark hope the sender will be identified by the distinctive handwriting.
They say the writer may be welleducated and seems to have exact details about Steven, who vanished, aged 23, on December 28, 1992, in Saltburn, North Yorks.
Disabled Steven, who lived nearby at Marskeby-the-sea, was said to have gone into a public loo while his mother went to the ladies.
In September his mum Doris, 81, and dad Charles, 78, were arrested on suspicion of murder following a cold case review. They deny any wrongdoing and were released on bail.
Police believe the anonymous letter writer giving information about what may have happened to Steven could prove to be a key witness. Det Chief Insp
Shaun Page said: “I believe the person who wrote the letter knew Steven was dead, and claims to know the person responsible. It is very precise so is one of the key lines of inquiry in this investigation.
“We don’t know if the writer is a man or a woman.”
It was posted to Guisborough police station in North Yorkshire but, as it was sent 21 years ago, Mr Page fears the writer may now be dead.
He said: “If anyone recognises the handwriting, we would urge them to get in touch.
“The terms used and style of writing could suggest this was a welleducated person. They were trying to help.” Cleveland Police have also been contacted by a key witness who saw Steven, who has a disabled left arm and walks with a slight limp, alive between 3 and 4pm on the day he disappeared. The woman recognised him from the press coverage following the recent cold case review.
She said he was in Marske-by-the-sea, after Doris said she left the toilet in