Last moments of schoolboy victim
ON Friday, May 18, 1990. Simon Martin and a pal skipped lessons at Monkwearmouth School for the day and went along the coast to South Shields.
The pair played on the one- arm bandit machines on the seafront before taking a walk through Marine Park.
Missing the bus home, they walked along the coast towards Marsden, eventually catching a bus back to Seaburn.
The pair then went into some more amusements on the seafront before going their separate ways, with Simon heading home, back to Amy Street in Southwick.
The teen made it home about 4.15pm. He got changed in front of the TV, out of his school uniform and into clothes to go out and play.
He was wearing a distinctive jacket with a Los Angeles Lakers motif on the back, as well as white trainers and a Le Shark top.
The schoolboy was asked by mum, Jean, to be back in the house for 6pm for his tea. He headed off and this was the last time his mum saw him alive.
When dad Robert returned home, a search began, with Simon’s family going out to look for him in some of his usual haunts.
With no luck, they reported him missing at the then Wheatsheaf police station.
The next day, more members of the Martin family helped search down at the seafront, in Thompson Park and up at the Witherwack quarry.
For the next eight days, further searches yielded nothing.
It was on Saturday, May 26, that police arrived at the Martin home.
In his statement at the time, Robert said: “They asked questions about what Simon was wearing and if he had any scars or birthmarks.
“They came back at about 8.30pm and said they had found the body of a young boy.
“At 11.35pm, I went to Sunderland District General Hospital, where I identified the body of my son Simon.”
Simon had been beaten to death in derelict Gilside House on Roker seafront.
The discovery of Simon was made just yards from the disused building where, four years later, the body of David Hanson would be found on February 8, 1994.