Day 11- Lester Mclennan

This episode is about a missing person case and so does not contain any descriptions of violence, but listener discretion is advised. Lalisa McLennan and her twenty year old son Leicester left their home in Upper Norwood in South London on the thirty first of October. They were traveling to Belfast to visit family, specifically a recently bereaved Anne who

lived in the city. Leicester had had a tricky few years prior to twenty twenty four, and had been diagnosed with depression and anxiety by the Community Health Team in January of twenty twenty four. Prior to this, Lester had been extremely low and his mom later explained that he struggled enormously at school during lockdown and took it very hard. He hadn't been very successful with his A levels and had dropped out of school. This was a difficult time

for him. However, since being diagnosed in January twenty twenty four, Lester had been doing much better and was feeling much more positive about his future. He had found himself a job and had enrolled in a university access course at Marley College, studying philosophy, history, English and creative writing. This, he hoped would enable him to get back on the

track that he'd previously been on. His Mumma Leitha said, he's a young person who found lockdown quite difficult and had not managed to do his A levels, but he just started college in September and looking at his diary entries, it was so lovely. He'd written college with three exclamation marks, as he was really excited about it. He was telling me about what he was doing, he was enjoying the people he'd met, and he was making an application to

university and he was talking about that. Lester said he could really see a future for himself and that was so lovely to hear, given that he'd had a difficult few years when lockdown was on, he was just coming out of that, which was so nice to see things were coming together for him again. Leicester was a nature lover and enjoyed hiking, and this was another thing that he'd been enjoying during twenty twenty four. He'd made a trip to the West Highland in Scotland in June and

had stayed for a week. While he was there, he did lots of hiking and took in many of the sites. This was clearly something that Lester really enjoyed and found a lot of satisfaction in. So when Lester and his mom arrived in Belfast, Lester made it clear that he was excited to make the trip out to Giants Causeway. The Giant's Causeway is a World Heritage site which is made up of forty thousand hexagonal basalt columns which were

created from volcanic fisher eruption. It's an extremely popular tourist attraction in Northern Ireland and many people visit each year to see the amazing natural site. This was clearly just the kind of thing that Lester enjoyed, and being just over an hour away from the city itself, he decided to make the trip. On November the first, Lester left Belfast on a bus to the Giants Causeway at nine

thirty am on Friday, the first of November. Was wearing a dark zip up jacket, a long gray coat which came below the knee, walking boots, and he was carrying a black backpack. Inside he had his passport, some food, his hat and a jumper. He was prepared for the short trip and day hike that he was taking and wouldn't have stood out from other tourists on their way

to the Giant's Causeway. He enjoyed hiking and walking and had already been on a hiking holiday that year, so he was mostly prepared for the journey that he was taking. As the day wore on and day turned into night, Lilisa became worried when Leicester had not returned to where

they were staying in Belfast. She had expected him to be back and so when he didn't, there were questions as to why Loalisa didn't waste time in contacting authorities, and the Police Service of Northern Ireland were very quickly involved in the search for Leicester, only a day after he'd last been seen on the second of November. They were appealing for information and asking people who might have been seen in the area to come forward with what

they saw. Given where Leicester had disappeared from on the coast of the North Atlantic Ocean, it was pivotal that police worked quickly and so an extensive Coastguard led search was set up, trialing for any in all evidence of Leicester. Community rescue teams and search and rescue dogs were also deployed to the area to track down a leads. Trying to figure out where Lester could have gone on the

Giant's Causeway was also very important. CCTV showed him getting on the bus at nine thirty am, however, how far did he get once he arrived there. Police began speaking to people in the area and interviewing people that were there during that time. They were able to track down a tour guide who remembered speaking to Leicester around two pm or November first. This tour guide explained that they had seen him on the cliff path near Lackada Point.

Lakada Point is a rock promontory that juts out into the ocean and is famous for being the point where the ship lag Your Owner from the Spanish Armada sank. The tour guide stated he then headed off in the direction of dun Severick Castle. This gave police somewhat of a timeline for the day, and they knew that he

had at least been seen at around two pm. They were also able to establish that the last pings on Leicester's phone show that he was still in the area of the Giant's Causeway until around five five thirty pm. That's the time where things become less certain. Where had Lester gone after he had last been seen on the cliff path, how far had he got? Wellsa explained that Lester was quite a fast walker and so could have

got further than police thought he might have. She said he was last seen at two pm on the cliff path near La Caada Point. He spoke to a tour guide who said Leicester was asking questions about other sites of interest up along the coast. When they finished talking, Lester walked off in the direction of Dunseverick Castle. Lester is a keen hiker. He could just march along. He's quite tall with long legs. He could go really fast, so he could have covered quite a long distance. He

could also rough it. He'd walk to the West Highland Way before. He would be happy to sleep out rough, although he wasn't prepared to do that. If it got dark, he might have he would have found shelter and hunkered down for the night, but I'm pretty sure he would have made contact with us if that happened. There was an important find that could help to narrow down where Lester may have got to and November two, two tourists walked into the visitors center at the Causeway and handed

in a black backpack. When it was opened, Lester's belongings were found inside, including his passport. This was his backpack. The tourists had been captured on CCTV, but at the point that they handed this in not everyone was aware of its significance or of Lester's disappearance, so questions were not asked of these two men. Primarily, the question of

where the bag was found was not asked. This would have given police an approximate search area and would have narrowed down how far Lester had reached at the point he put his bag down. A picture of the two men on CCTV were shared in the hope that they would come forward with information about where exactly it was found. It's believed that these two men were not from the UK and were visitors from another country. Workers at the visitors center believed that they had an accent, but couldn't

pinpoint where this accent came from. It's still crucial that these two people come forward or anyone that thinks that they read recognize them let the authorities know. Police continued to search for information, and two weeks after Leicester disappeared, Lalitha told the press, I'm coming over to Belfast this week to go back up the coast and try to distribute as many leaflets as I can. I'm also going to go into pubs and shops to ask people if

they've seen anything. Search teams had drones up yesterday between Lakada and bally Castle, including white Park Bay, so they've done a very thorough search with these drones there. There are bits they can't get to along the coast, the likes of caves, nooks and crannies, but they've done as much as they can along there. They've also searched up to five hundred meters back from the cliff edge Inland.

They're reviewing all drone footage this evening to see if there's any evidence the two people who handed Leicester's backpacking did have a foreign accent, but the staff who it was handed into didn't have any idea where the accent might be from. Police have been going to hotels and hostels locally to see if those backpackers turned up there. We have family in Australia who have been reaching out to people on social media who were in the area

that day, but we haven't had any luck yet. The area that police are searching, though, is a huge area and without being able to narrow down where the bag was found, it's tricky to track down Lester's exact route. Lalitha explained that the area where the phone last pinged covers around twelve miles and so even this, while useful, does not narrow it down a lot. Seah McGerry of the Community Rescue Service in Corrain, stated that they had already looked in the Dunseverick Castle area, but would be

going back to have another look. He said he was obviously going in a certain direction which helps us that takes him much further east. We have had to make these assumptions, so we've already searched this area, but we will returned to that direction and get another search there as well. This is such a recent case and someone will remember where they were at the beginning of November.

It's crucial that these tourists are tracked down. If the location of the bag can be found, then Leicester's last known location could also be found. Lolitha has been dedicated to searching for Leicester and will not be giving up doing that. However, she stated that it has been very difficult. She explained, it would be good to find him, but I don't expect to find him alive. It would be good to know what happened to him. I don't hold a lot of hope. Initially I'd been pushing to find

out where his backpack was found. It feels very likely that he's not alive. Loalitha praised the Police Service for Northern Ireland for their quick response for looking for Leicester, saying that they have been following up every lead and whenever possible witnesses have been identified, they have been speaking to them as soon as possible. This is always heartening

to here. I think Leicester's disappearance of all the cases I've covered this month is the most pressing in one way, as information will still be coming in and people hearing about it. May well have a good memory of seeing Leicester or being on the Giant's Causeway at the time that he disappeared. Were you there on the first or second of November? Do you know anyone that was Do you recognize the tourists in the CCTV images. Do you know someone who lives in the area that could share

this information. There are so many ways that you can help in this case and support Lester's mother to get some answers. Lester is approximately six feet three in height, of slim build, with light brown hair, and was wearing black glasses, light beige trousers with a dark belt, walking boots, a long gray coat to below the knee, and a dark zip up jacket. He was also carrying a black backpack.

Anyone that does know anything is encouraged to contact police in col Rain on one oh one, quoting reference number seven six zero two forward slash one one, forward slash two four. I will link this in the show notes. Thank you for listening to today's episode. Listen in to day twelve, where we'll cover another missing or unidentified person case. If you'd like to support the podcast further, then you can on Patreon and contribute to exclusive polls to get

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