Missing Steven ‘was alive just minutes from home’
Murder cops probe ‘significant’ new evidence
IN THE DARK Our coverage of search at Clarks’ home
MISSING Steven Clark appeared to be “on his way home” to the parents suspected of his murder, when he was seen by a new witness on the day he vanished 28 years ago.
The witness came forward to say that she saw Steven between 3pm and 4pm in Marske-by-the-Sea, North Yorks – a short distance from the house – on December 28, 1992.
Lead investigator Det Chief Insp Shaun Page said: “I now believe Steven was still alive
– minutes from his home.
“Obviously one option is that he was on his way home – there is a likelihood that he was – and this is really significant in terms of what happened to Steven next.”
Steven’s mum, Doris, 81, and dad Charles, 78, were recently arrested on suspicion of his murder after a review by the Cleveland and North Yorkshire Police cold case unit.
They told detectives their disabled son, had vanished in Saltburn, a few miles from where they live.
Doris described how the then 23-year-old went into a public toilet at 3pm – and she never saw him again.
She told the Mirror: “I stood directly in front of the exit, I don’t know for how
long. I was there for quite a long time, wondering what had happened to him. “In my statement [to police] I said 15 minutes, it might have been longer. “He could have gone up the very steep bank, or along the beach.
“I got back and put the kettle on for a cup of coffee for him coming home. Charles went off to a football match.” Det Chief Insp Page said extensive inquiries were carried out at the Clarks’ £230,000 property this week, including excavation of the back garden. Charles, a former police officer, told the Mirror as he returned home on Wednesday: “I am amazed at the search, I have no idea at all why they did it.” The cold case review has established that Steven was happy at the time he disappeared, with a new a girlfriend and job interviews lined up. Steven, who walked with a pronounced limp as a result of a car accident when he was two, was heading in the direction of The Ship Inn when the new witness saw him. DCI Page would like to establish if he went into the pub that day. And he again appealed for the writer of a letter delivered to Guisborough police station in 1999 to come forward. The Clarks told the Mirror they were on police bail until October 12.
CASE DCI Shaun Page
This sighting is really significant in terms of what happened to Steven next
DCI SHAUN PAGE ON NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN PROBE
I’ve no idea why police searched our house for clues to our missing son