New anguish for dad whose girl vanished 40 years ago
THE father of a toddler who vanished from a German supermarket almost four decades ago spoke of his frustration after a retired soldier arrested over her disappearance was released without charge.
Katrice Lee vanished on her second birthday in 1981 from Paderborn, where her father, Richard, was serving with the British Army.
Hopes of a breakthrough rose on Monday when military police arrested a 74year-old former soldier who used to serve at the same base, and began searching his home in Swindon, Wiltshire. But the Royal Military Police has now released the pensioner due to a lack of evidence.
Investigators continued to scour the garden of the terraced property last night using ground-penetrating radar.
Mr Lee, a retired sergeant major, said: ‘It hasn’t come as a great surprise to hear he has been released. I have learnt over the years never to get my hopes up. It never gets easier, though. When developments like this occur you can’t help but hope it will lead to some answers.
‘We must make no assumptions about the person who was arrested – everyone is innocent until proven guilty and we must all abide by that.
‘I have never given up hope that she’ll be found.’
Katrice, from Hartlepool, Co Durham, disappeared from a barracks Naafi supermarket in Paderborn. Her father was stationed there with the 15th/19th King’s Royal Hussars.
Her mother, Sharon, had been carrying her around the shop, which was particularly busy as it was the last pay day before Christmas. After reaching the checkout, Mrs Lee put her down to fetch a forgotten item and asked Katrice’s aunt Wendy to watch her. But when Mrs Lee returned less than a minute later, her daughter was nowhere to be seen.
Last night, she described her agony after receiving news of the arrest.
At her home in Gosport, Hampshire, Mrs Lee, an admin worker, said: ‘It is a shock, but then you think, this time maybe I’ll have my answer.
‘Although the outcome may not be the answer my family and myself have wanted, at least we’ll have closure and get some sort of peace of mind and deal with what happened to Katrice.
‘As time goes on it doesn’t get any easier – time doesn’t heal an open wound.’
The precise link between the searched property and Katrice’s disappearance remains unclear.
In 1981, initial investigations by both military and German police were criticised by the family for presuming that Katrice drowned in a nearby river and for failing to interview witnesses promptly.
Last year, military police launched a new probe, considering the theory that Katrice had been abducted then raised on the Continent by another family unaware of her identity.
An Army spokesman said last night: ‘A former serviceman was arrested in connection with the disappearance of Katrice Lee.
‘He has now been released without charge.
‘The search of an address in Swindon continues and the Royal Military Police are keeping the Lee family informed of developments.’