Megan stalked by a ‘creepy guy’ before she went missing
A STudenT who vanished on a night out had been targeted by a stalker, it emerged yesterday.
Six days before her disappearance, Megan Roberts and a friend tweeted about a ‘creepy guy’ who followed them from bar to bar.
Her companion even wrote in jest: ‘Probably gonna get murdered tonight.’
Police are investigating the stalking incident along with dramatic CCTV footage that suggests Megan may have drowned.
The 20-year-old is seen with her friends near a bridge but is missing by the time a second camera picks up the group on the other side of the swollen river.
Yesterday Megan’s family were anxiously waiting for news of the fine arts undergraduate at York St John university.
After analysing the CCTV footage, detectives have focused their investigation on the murky and fast-flowing waters of the Ouse, which runs through York at a depth of up to 18ft. underwater search teams have been using scanning devices to look for signs of a body.
Megan went out last Wednesday night and left the Popworld bar in George Hudson Street at 2.10am on Thursday. Ten minutes later she was among four or five friends seen standing on one side of Lendal Bridge in central York – a favourite spot for taking pictures of the city in times of flood.
A few minutes later the second camera on the other side of the bridge fails to pick her up.
Superintendent Phil Cain of north Yorkshire Police said Megan’s most likely route to her home would have taken her across the bridge.
However, she might also have used a bridge 200 yards away – a shortcut that would have meant her walking on a river path lacking in barriers.
‘Our officers need to find out where she went after she was last seen on CCTV,’ said Mr Cain.
‘We have concern for Megan’s welfare and urge people to help establish her movements.
‘There is nothing to suggest any criminality is involved in Megan’s disappearance.’
Police inquiries suggest Megan did not use the Lendal Bridge. Officers are interviewing her friends again to try resolve where she went.
The missing student’s child- minder mother Jackie, who has two younger children, lives ten miles away in Wetherby.
Mr Cain added: ‘Megan’s family are understandably very distressed by her disappearance and I would appeal for anyone who has any information at all about where she might be to get in touch with the police.’
He confirmed detectives were probing concerns expressed by Megan and her friend Rockie Thorley on a night out on January 16. Megan had tweeted: ‘Can’t believe a guy just followed us from one pub to another and came and sat down next to us, staring at us like it was completely fine.’
Rockie responded: ‘Megan has gone to the toilet and this creepy guy keeps staring at me and winking, probably gonna get murdered tonight and it’s only 8pm.’
Megan worked as a barmaid at the Lamb & Lion Inn in York during the summer and its manager, Adam Heaslip, described her as ‘very polite, friendly and a good worker’.
Megan was last seen in a cream dress with a flower pattern.