My daughter Nicola Payne vanished into fog a week before Xmas 30 years ago… we’re still clueless but won’t lose hope
FOR six months John Payne refused to go to bed – afraid that he’d not hear the knock on the front door that would bring news of his missing 18-year-old daughter.
But three decades on he still has no clue why Nicola Payne disappeared into the fog after setting out on the short walk to his house.
Since that ill-fated journey along a wooded path in Coventry on December 14, 1991, the new mum has never been seen again.
But her family refuse to give up hope of solving what is one of the most puzzling mysteries in British criminal history.
How does a young woman, with everything to live for, simply vanish?
In March, Nicola’s heartbroken mum Marilyn died aged 77, before there was a chance to discover the truth.
Now Nicola’s dad John, 78, and four brothers are renewing their efforts to find fresh clues by appearing in a four-part TV documentary.
Her brother Nigel says: “This is our last hope.”
The close-knit family always insisted Nicola would never wander off without her baby son Owen.
But it took many years for them to agree with detectives that Nicola had been murdered.
Retired Chief Detective Inspector Martin Slevin, who successfully lobbied for the case to be reopened in 2012, tells The Sun: “When I first spoke to them, Marilyn was just about reconciled to that fact, but John had more difficulty, certainly until that time, still hoping that Nicola could come walking back through the door.”
Exciting new life
Nicola was living with Jason Cooke, the father of her then seven-month-old child, when she went missing.
She was excited about her first Christmas as a mum and the new home her dad had spent three months redecorating for them.
John had a bit more work to do, so Nicola decided to drop off the keys at his house.
It was a short walk away, across parkland known as the Black Pad, which Nicola knew well.
She left around 12.20pm on December 14, but never arrived at her father’s house on Woodway Close.
John recalls: “It was a six minute walk.”
Nicola’s brothers started searching for her, and with no sighting by 3pm the police were called.
‘Bungled operation’
Her brother Nigel says: “The impression from the police was that they thought she was a runaway.
“They didn’t take it very seriously to begin with.”
West Midlands Police did not have a good reputation at the time, with the Serious Crime Squad having been disbanded in 1989 following a series of wrongful convictions, including the Birmingham Six.
Coventry was in the midst of a crime wave and had suffered 17 murders in 20 months.
The impression from the police was that they thought she was a runaway, they didn’t take it very seriously to begin with
Nigel Payne
But once the police believed this was a case of abduction, they began what was the biggest search carried out by the force, including heat seeking equipment, helicopters and sniffer dogs.
One witness reported hearing a female scream and seeing men coming out of the bushes, while others reported a blue Capri being nearby.
Malcolm Ross, the senior investigating officer at the time, felt he had enough reason to call local man Nigel Barwell and his brother-in-law Thomas O’Reilly in for questioning.
But the police did not carry out a forensic search of Barwell’s blue Capri, because the men’s solicitor successfully argued that they didn’t have the right to.
The other key error that officers made at the time was not properly sealing a tent discovered by a river bank prior to sending it off to the forensics lab.
Barwell and O’Reilly did not turn up for an ID parade and headed off to France.
When they arrived back three months later their appearances had changed, but the police could not force Barwell to shave off his moustache before appearing in front of witnesses.
They were released without charge.
New breakthroughs
In 2012 Martin asked to go through the 36 boxes of evidence to see if the case was worth reopening.
He recalls: “Those 36 boxes piece by piece lined my office wall. I built a business case to allow me to take the case.”
New breakthroughs in DNA evidence and fresh witness statements allowed him to bring Barwell and O’Reilly to trial in 2015, accused of Nicola’s murder.
Martin’s case hung on a single strand of Nicola’s hair, which the prosecution argued had been found in the tent, which they said was owned by Barwell.
But there were questions as to whether the hair could have got on the tent through cross contamination when the evidence bag wasn’t properly sealed.
The jury found both men not guilty.
That, though, was not the end of matters. Further evidence led Martin to order a search of Coombe Abbey Country Park in Coventry in 2016, which again proved to be fruitless.
Never give up
With no new leads, no body and the case only being reviewed every two years by West Midlands Police, there doesn’t appear to be grounds for optimism.
The Paynes have experienced police bungles, years of disinterest, numerous failed searches and not guilty verdicts handed out to the only two suspects ever charged with Nicola’s murder.
However they are not the kind of family to give up.
In the face of those setbacks they started an annual candlelight vigil across Black Pad in Coventry, where Nicola was last seen; tripled the reward money to £30,000, and set up a social media campaign titled #findnicolapayne.
Martin, who was on the case for seven years, says they are right to believe Nicola’s body can still be laid to rest and that her killers can be brought to justice.
Just last week paedophile David Boyd was jailed for the 1992 murder of seven-year-old Nikki Allan in Sunderland.
There is someone out there who will help us unlock the jigsaw
Retired Chief Detective Inspector Martin Slevin
Martin explains: “I remain hopeful of justice for Nicola’s family. But a lot of that depends on recovering Nicola’s remains, which is in the family’s eyes the most important aspect of the case now.
“West Midlands do have a forensics recovery plan should Nicola’s remains be located, and how that would be managed.”
The family hope that the Amazon prime Video series, titled The Never Ending Murder, which starts streaming today, will jog some memories.
The retired detective says more than anything the family want to find Nicola’s body so that she can be buried properly at a spot they can visit.
“They were adamant that getting Nicola’s remains back was the priority,” Martin says.
“There are people who haven’t yet found a conscience to pass on information about the whereabouts of Nicola’s remains.
“I still firmly believe there are people out there who hold information, whether that be behaviour of a family member at anniversary times or whispered conversations.
“There is someone out there who will help us unlock the jigsaw.”
The Never Ending Murder is streaming on Prime Video from May 17.