Andrew Bedford

This episode is about a missing person and so does not contain any descriptions of violence, but listener discretion is advised. Tweed Road is located in Ramsey, which is a market town in Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. In nineteen ninety, twenty seven year old Andrew Bedford was living on Tweed Road in the town along with his girlfriend Clara. Andrew and Clara had known each other for around two and a half years, and Clara was also a mother of four children. They

were a busy household. And Andrew was described by all those that knew him as a hard worker who believed his work and job were extremely important. He was the eldest of four children himself, and it was known that he liked to keep himself to himself. He worked at R. And B. Payne Greengrocers and was known as a great colleague and a good worker. As well as working at the green grocer, he also sometimes worked on the land

and dabbled in working on cars. On September twenty eighth, nineteen ninety, Andrew told Clara that he was going out and that he would be back at around five or six o'clock that evening. Clara last saw him around midday when he left their home on Tweed Road. There was nothing unusual about him going out on that Friday, and it rang no alarm bells for Clara when the time ticked past six o'clock, though she did begin to worry

when it got to eight o'clock. She said she did get a little more concerned, but rationalized her worry thinking that perhaps Andrew had decided to go for a drink with his friends and had just lost track of the time. It was clear that this, however, was uncharacteristic of him.

The next morning, Saturday, the twenty ninth of September, Clara woke to find that Andrew had still not returned, over twelve hours since he said that he would be home this was now a major concern for Clara, and she reported in missing to the police, explaining that she was worried about his safety. Police became involved in the investigation and they began to look into Andrew's life in more detail to find any reason why he would have disappeared.

Clara and Andrew's family spoke to them, and while Andrew did keep himself to himself, there was something that came up that alarmed the officers. Andrew had recently been in trouble with the police and was due to appear at Peterborough Crown Corps along with two other men on suspicion of theft of a twenty five thousand pound lorry. This was of course interesting and potentially relevant to his disappearance.

If Andrew had wanted to escape these charges, he may well have gone away for a while to take the heat off himself. Clara did not believe that this is why Andrew had disappeared. She implied that the charges were something that he would have faced, saying he's pretty easy going, rough and ready. He was all right, really just full of himself. Clara was adamant that if Andrew had just disappeared, this was due to foul play and that somebody had

done something to it. Just a few days after he vanished, she told the press, I'm expecting the worst. I'm not prepared for it, but I'm expecting it. I have a goot feeling there's something wrong with him. He would have been in contact by now. She appealed to the public, saying, even if they have done something bad to him, let us know where he is. The implication early on in the reporting was that Andrew may have been the victim

of some sort of gangland killing. Protective Superintendent Bob Wordsworth addressed the public early on, saying we desperately need information. We would like to hear from anyone who saw mister Bedford on Friday or since. If he is in hiding, I would ask him to contact me in confidence. From the outset, there was suspicion that something could have happened to him or that he was in hiding, but either way, police appeared to be convinced that someone in the community

knew his whereabouts. Officers were drafted in from different parts of the country to support the search for Andrew, and an incident room was set up. They began interviewing many people who knew him and spoke to his employers at the greengrocer's. Andrew had been on his way to collect his wages and the wages of a friend on that Friday, and when the employers were spoken to, the friend said

that he had been given his wages. His colleagues did state, however, that while he was a consistent worker and a hard worker, he was prone to disappear with no notice and then return after a few weeks. This was in start contrast to Clara, who was alarmed when he hadn't returned the day after he left the home. If Andrew had disappeared before, then, was this just another occasion where this had happened. Clara didn't think so, and it appears neither did the police.

They quickly set up so of the local area and deployed both a police helicopter and dog handlers to search areas where they thought he could be. Forty uniformed officers scoured the area and interviewed people, hoping to find more information. They also scoured any bodies of water that were in the area with divers and underwater equipment. It was clear that they were taking his disappearance extremely seriously and were

concerned about where he was. A particular garage, which was located on Saint Mary's Lane in Ramsey, was forensically searched in relation to some information that they had received. Three people, two men and a woman, were also reported as helping police with the investigation. It's reported more recently that these three people had in fact been arrested in relation to

Andrew's disappearance, but were not charged. In addition to the searches, police issued description of Andrew as well as his picture. He is described as five feet eight inches tall, medium billed, with mousey blonde, shoulder length, curly hair. He also had several tattoos, an eagle on his back, a devil woman, an Elvis Presley motif, as well as a tattoo of a naked winged lady on his right arm, and the name of Kerry, his stepdaughter. He also had a long

scar on his arm. It was hoped that these tattoos would help identify Andrew by someone that saw him. Just over a week after Andrew went missing, police stated to the public that they were struggling to find out where he could have been or what had happened. A spokesperson said, we obviously feel that something sinister may have happened to him, but we have no real leads. By the eighth of October, it was reported that the search for Andrew was being

scaled down. Police explained that the incident room was remaining open and that they were keeping an open mind, but the large scale investigation could not be continued. Clara, and Andrew's mum Sally, were devastated by his disappearance, and they were dedicated to discovering what could have happened to him. Clara explained, a television man who came here told me that I am heartless. He did not know how I feel inside. I'm worried out of my head. I'm upset,

but I have to keep calm. I have four children to look after. I do not know of any reason why he would go off and not tell me, not when he said he would come back. Sally said that she could not sleep and she couldn't think about anything else except Andrew's disappearance. She said, if he came through the door now, the first thing I would do would be to give him a big hug, whether he wanted it or not. Then I might clip him round the ear.

While police did not have many leads. They did have some and these lines of inquiry were followed up with. Police had a witness who said they saw Andrew around six fifteen or six thirty pm on that Friday evening. He was spotted eating a takeaway in a blue Ford Cortina and he was seen wearing a khaki jumper, jeans and trainers as well as overalls. This gave the police

somewhat of a timeline. It was unclear if it was him why he hadn't yet returned home when he told Clara that he was back between five and six pm. There was another important lead that police had to follow up with, and they received this information through some quite unusual circumstances. A nine nine nine car came into Cambridge Police from a man who said he overheard a woman

discussing something she saw on October the sixth. He said the woman explained that she had seen two men dragging a b body in the woodland just after a one motorway. This took place between monks Wood and Alcumbury. This was, of course an unusual thing to spot, and the fact that this was being reported almost third hand was also odd. It was taken seriously though, by police, and they discovered that the call had been made for an emergency kiosk

on Tunker's Lane near Bury in Ramsey. A search was conducted in the area that the man pointed to by tracker dogs to try and locate any evidence. However, nothing was found. After the search was scaled down and the weeks continued to pass, there was little published about progress

made in the case. Towards the end of October, police reported that no news may be good news in the case, given that if Andrew was in the water, his body should have surfaced by that point, and so it could imply that his body was not located there at all. Specialist underwater divers had already searched local bodies of water and found no evidence. In November, police stepped up a poster campaign for Andrew and also launched a crime Stoppers campaign.

They offered a five hundred pound reward to try and find him. Despite this, however, police received no information in the months afterwards, or none that had been reported on in the press. In April of nineteen ninety one, they did receive information that led them to searching the River Ooz in Ealy and interviewing four men in relation to his disappearance. After this appeal, there wasn't much movement in the case for a while, and it appears that it

went cold. In nineteen ninety two, police received a tip off that Andrew may have been shot, and as a result, they searched Ramsey Field Pond. This search did not go as planned, though, as the hunt's post reported that they found a colony of toads that were mating, and so they had to leave the pond until all the toads had spawned. There wasn't much reported on about this search afterwards,

and sadly not much until twenty fifteen. That year, it was announced that the police were treating Andrew's disappearance as a murder case and that they believed that something sinister happened to him. Interestingly, they went into more detail, explaining that they believed that Andrew was murdered and that they had a prime suspect, but that this person was also dead. They also believed others were involved in Andrew's murder. This was not something that had been reported on earlier in

the investigation, and there hasn't been much detailed about it since. However, it was reported that eight people had been arrested during the course of the investigation. Nobody has ever been charged. The most recent arrest has been reported in twenty fifteen, when human bones were found at stocking Fen Road, with the family reappealing for information. At that point, a sixty four year old man was arrested on suspicion of murder. However,

again not charged. Police went further in twenty fifteen, stating that they believed that Andrew had been shot with a shotgun at a garage called Mongrel Cars in Ramsay that's no longer there. They believe he was killed on the evening of September twenty eighth, when he first disappeared. This information seems to be very specific and implies that police had information or a credible tip off that this was

the case. Twenty fifteen was twenty five years after Andrew disappeared, and just five years later, in twenty twenty, the police had another update in the case. They announced that, thirty years after his disappearance, they would be closing down the cold case investigation started in twenty fifteen. Andrew's family were devastated by the news that the cold case murder investigation would be closing down and Andrew's younger sister, Linda, spoke

to the press about it. She said, we got a phone call on Friday where they said they wanted to come and speak to us, but they wouldn't tell us why. With it being so close to the thirtieth anniversary, we thought they might be doing an appeal, but they said because there was no evidence that they would be closing the case and passing it to the coroner. We were devastated. I sat crying when they had left. I was angry

and upset. Emotions were running very high. We asked if it could be classed as a missing person or murder inquiry, and they have said that they will think about changing it. We don't want a death certificate to be issued because it seems final. We've not given up hope that he is alive. It seems the police just want justice, but what we want is answers. We think Andrew, his family, and the Ramsey community have been let down. It's so difficult not knowing what's happened to him. Someone must know

something about what has happened to him. I'm going to keep the appeal going. He was always there for me when I needed him. Now I need to be there for him. I've done so much. I want to carry it on. I need to carry it on. Our mom died eleven years ago and she did not know what happened to her son. I just want someone to tell us what happened to him, or Andrew, to let us

know he is alive and happy. Linda and her husband Paul have set up a geo cash location where he was last seen, and Paul explained to the Peterborough Telegraph, lots of people go and visit it, and some people go on the anniversary he disappeared. They leave lovely messages, which really gives you a lump in the throat. We couldn't put flowers there because it would seem final. Linda discussed hope that they would see Andrew again and explained, I can still see him and hear him whenever the

police get in touch. I have dreams that Andrew turns up and knocks on the back door. We still live in the same house where we grew up. Until recently, I still bought Christmas presents for him. I believe he was given money to go and live abroad. Thirty years ago. It was easy to buy a new ID. There was not as much CCTV as there is now no mobile phones, it would be easy to slip out of society. Everywhere we go. I look out for him and listen for his voice. He had a very distinctive voice, and I

would still recognize it. Cambridgeshire Police have confirmed that the case has been closed as they had as did all lines of inquiry. However, have said that they would continue to investigate if new evidence came to light or new tips were sent in. Andrew's case is a sad one as it appears that while police have very strong suspicions about what happened to him, they simply do not have enough evidence to prove it, and therefore his case is

stuck in limbo and therefore sore his family. His family believed that Andrew could still be out there somewhere, and this is of course still completely possible. Someone out there does know what happened, and they know where he is and they could help to locate him. If anyone does know about the disappearance or murder of Andrew Bedford in September nineteen ninety, then they should contact police on one oh one and explain what they know. Thank you for

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YouTube and follow us on social media. As always, I'm Caprice and this has been unseen se