Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast dedicated to missing people, unresolved cases and UK true crime. Today we're going to be covering a missing person case which was brought to my attention by our lovely and very supportive listener Louise, who had spotted a post by West Midlands Police. The post captured my attention and I felt it was a definite good fit for the podcast.
The disappearance of forty four year old Douglas Mortimer in nineteen eighty one has been a mystery since it occurred, and his family have recently appealed last month for anyone who knows anything to come forward with information. I would love to support them in getting the word out about Douglas's disappearance. This is going to be one of our shorter episodes. Is often the case with missing person cases where there is limited information, but I believe it's an
important one. This episode is about a missing person and so there are no graphic descriptions, but listener discretion is always advised. During December nineteen eighty one, the family of Douglas Mortimer became concerned when they hadn't seen or heard from him. This was Unlike Douglas, who has been described as a home loving and stable father of three. By all accounts, Douglas was not one to just disappear without speaking to his family or letting them know what he
was doing, and this was unusual. Douglas lived in Woodgate in Quinton, a suburb of the city of Birmingham, and he worked with a seven Trent Water Authority as well as Ladywood's Social Club. In nineteen eighty one, he was living with his daughter at her home. The concern grew as Douglas failed to return to the home and he didn't turn up to meet his friends at Ladywood Social
Club on the third of December. There was no sign of where he might have gone to Those that knew him speculated that he had around fifty pounds on him when he left, and it didn't seem that he had taken anything with him that he would need to be away for any substantial period of time. Douglas's family contacted the West Midlands Police to try and track Douglas down, as this disappearance was so out of character for him.
West Midland's police began investigating the disappearance and piecing together what had happened and when he might have disappeared. They were able to establish that Douglas had last been seen on December the third. It was a Thursday, and they knew that he had decided to go and visit his wife in his way was separated at that time, and he'd reportedly gone to visit her at the teaching center in Ladywood, where she worked as a caretaker. This visit had been to sort out some of their affairs as
a result of the couple's separation. It was known that this visit with his wife had not gone especially well, and that they'd had an argument. A CID spokesman said at the time, they had an argument and he left in his car, and that was the last time anyone has seen or heard from him. The fact that his disappearance had been after an argument added an even more worrying aspect to the case. Where did Douglas go after
this and where was his car? Police began trying to track down Douglas's blue Ford Cortina with the registration number JXD three three nine K, in the hope that if they found his car, they would find him within two weeks. They also distributed a description of Douglas so that people would be able to spot him if they saw him around. Douglas was described as five feet eight inches tall. He had short, dark graying hair, blue eyes, and a stocky build.
He was clean shaven at the time and was wearing a water board jacket which had the word waterworks on the back. It was hoped that this distinctive description would mean someone would be able to help the police track him down. They were also concerned about Douglas's disappearance due to the circumstances in which he had gone missing, and they were worried about his state of mind at the time. He hadn't even contacted his job to let them know that he wouldn't be in work, and this was very
out of character for him. There were many reasons to be worried about Douglas. Another was that when the police contacted his bank to try his movements, they discovered that he hadn't drawn out any money, meaning that he still only had the money that he left with. Police continued to try and figure out what happened and where Douglas had gone. Months passed, however, without much progress being made, and Douglas nor his car were recovered. Nine months after
Douglas disappeared, an article ran discussing the investigation. Police explained that they were worried about his safety as he seemed to have just disappeared into thin air. A senior detective on the investigation was quoted as saying, where he is now is a mystery we would dearly love to solve. It's just as though he disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The detective also gave some more context to the moment that Douglas disappeared, saying that his wife described speaking to him for around ten minutes and he then left in a temper. The senior detective said, we are puzzled about this case. Some of his family fear he could have been done harm. They are also worried that he might take his own life because he was depressed. If he is alive, he would like to hear from him as
soon as possible, particularly to reassure his relatives. The fear that Douglas may have come to harm was something that worried everyone surrounding the case, given that he had just split up from his wife, and this may have been a contributing factor. Moore was revealed in October nineteen eighty two, when it was announced that police had got three anonymous calls stating that Douglas had actually been seen with an
unknown woman. It was not said when Douglas had been spotted with this woman, if it was before he disappeared or after. In the same article from October, it stated that Douglas's daughter said, I know at the time that he disappeared. He said he was frightened. Once again, there's nothing more said about what this meant, and what he was frightened of was not clear. It certainly could and should have been a line of inquiry that was followed
up by the West Midlands Police. Over the years since Douglas Mortimer went missing, there have been appeals to try and locate him. However, to the present day he's still not been found and neither has his car. It's as though he just vanished without a trace. It's now one of the longest running missing person cases for West Midland's Police and it's a case that they want to try and solved. Just last month they issued an appeal on their website and social media to try and drum up
some more information about his day disappearance. West Midland's Police have said that no trace of Douglas has been found after his disappearance, and that despite the passage of time, they hope that a new appeal may jog someone's memory. It's always hoped that despite the age of the case, someone can help and that the missing person's family can find out what has happened to them. Douglas would now be eighty seven years old and his family are desperate
for help to try and find him. I know that the appeal did reach a lot of people, and I hope that one of those people had the information that his family were looking for. If you know anything about the disappearance of Douglas Mortimer, please contact the Missing Person's Investigation Unit on zero one two one six two six seven zero zero three. Thank you for listening to today's episode. If you'd like to support the podcast further than you can on Patreon and contribute to exclusive polls to get
extra bonus episodes every month. You can also get access to new episodes early in ad free. You can use the link in the show notes to visit Patreon and see what we offer. You can also support us by reviewing the podcast wherever you listen, including Spotify, and also just share the episodes. You can subscribe on YouTube and follow us on social media. As always, I'm Caprice and this has been unseen p