Murder of Amanda Dowler

Amanda Jane Dowler
Amanda Dowler
Born	25 June 1988(1988-06-25) Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England
Died	c. 21 March 2002(2002-03-21) (aged 13) unknown
Body discovered	Minley Woods, Yateley, Hampshire, England 18 September 2002
Monuments	Amanda Dowler Memorial Garden, Heathside School, Surrey
Nationality	British
Other names	Milly Dowler
Ethnicity	White British
Height	1.53 metres (5.0 ft)
Parents	Robert and Sally Dowler
Relatives	Gemma Dowler

The murder of Amanda Dowler is a high profile English child abduction and murder involving an English schoolgirl Amanda Dowler, who was abducted while on her way home from school in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, and subsequently murdered. Dowler's abduction in March 2002, was followed by the discovery of her body in September 2002, after prolonged nationwide media attention. The police investigation undertaken by Surrey Police was named Operation Ruby and involved over 100 officers.

Contents 1 Disappearance 2 Body discovery 3 Early investigation 4 Investigation 5 Legacy 6 References 7 External links

Disappearance

At 3 pm on 21 March 2002, Dowler left Heathside School to go home on the train. Dowler got off at Walton-on-Thames railway station to visit a café with friends, one stop early from her usual stop of Hersham. After phoning her father at 3:47 pm to tell him she would be home in half an hour, Dowler set off for home on foot, and was last seen, by a friend waiting at a bus stop,^[1] 18 minutes later walking along Station Approach.^[2] A CCTV camera sited further along the road showed no images of Dowler, however, indicating she was abducted within minutes of passing the bus stop.^[1] It is believed Dowler was killed and buried shortly afterwards.^[3] Her parents reported her missing to the police at 7pm that evening.^[4]

A nationwide search followed the disappearance, including 100 officers and helicopters searching the fields, streets and rivers around Hersham. Detectives who had worked on the abduction of Sarah Payne were called in to help.^[5] Police and Dowler's family made multiple appeals for information, including a reconstruction on Crimewatch,^[2] and a plea by pop star Will Young on the ITN news programme, as Dowler was a fan and had attended a concert of his the day before her disappearance.^[6] The Crimewatch appeal included a direct appeal to Dowler in the hope that she had run away from home of her own accord, though the day before her father had already expressed fears that his daughter had been abducted. Dowler's mother expressed hope that her daughter had indeed run away, but admitted that she could think of no reason why her daughter would want to do so.^[7]

A week after Dowler's disappearance, the police stated that she was probably not taken by force, reasoning that, while Dowler was unlikely, of her own free will, to have gone off with someone she did not know, no-one had come forward who had witnessed a struggle, despite a number of apparent sightings of Dowler prior to her disappearance.^[8]

On 23 April, the discovery of a body in the River Thames prompted media speculation that the remains might be those of Dowler, however the body was identified the following day as 73-year-old Maisie Thomas, who had gone missing a year earlier, and whose death was not believed to be suspicious.^[9] In June of that year, despite further searches, the offer of a £100,000 reward by national tabloid The Sun^[10] and Dowler's parents continuing to text her mobile in the hope of a reply,^[11] Dowler remained missing. At this stage police felt it necessary to say to Dowler's parents that she was probably dead.^[12]

Body discovery

On 18 September 2002, human skeletal remains were discovered in Minley Woods near Yateley, Hampshire, and confirmed through dental records as Dowler's two days later.^[1][13] The discovery of the body led the police to reclassify the case from a missing person investigation to a murder investigation. None of the clothes Dowler was wearing, nor the purse, rucksack or mobile phone Dowler had with her at the time of her disappearance have ever been recovered.^[14][15][16]

Early investigation

On 22 November 2002, police set up a road block near the spot where the corpse was found. Motorists in and around the area were questioned, but no leads are discovered.

On 23 March 2003, DNA of a mystery man was discovered on an item of Dowler's clothing in her bedroom, suggesting that her killer may have met her before. However, this link was ruled out within three months, around the same time that a DNA link to a church robbery more than 300 miles away in Sunderland was also ruled out

Investigation

Paul Hughes was convicted of making threats to kill and was jailed for five years after sending letters to Dowler's mother threatening to kill her and claiming to have killed Dowler. The letters were sent whilst Hughes was in prison for indecently assaulting a twelve-year-old girl; the prison service apologised for not screening mail effectively.^[17]

Lianne Newman of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire repeatedly phoned Dowler's parents, school and the police pretending to be the missing schoolgirl. She was jailed in April 2003 for five months after pleading guilty to five counts of making phone calls to cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety.^[18]

Gary Farr of Retford, Nottinghamshire repeatedly e-mailed Dowler's parents, school friends and police officers working on the case, claiming that Dowler had been smuggled out of the country to work as a prostitute and stripper at nightclubs in Poland, and that her death had been a cover-up. Farr was sectioned indefinitely under the Mental Health Act on 19 October 2006 for being a serious psychological danger to the public due to his history of paranoid schizophrenia after admitting a charge of harassment.^[19]

On 25 February 2008, Surrey Police confirmed that Levi Bellfield was their prime suspect in the murder inquiry. It was reported Bellfield is a "prime suspect" in the case and police were "very interested" in questioning him.^{[20] [21]}

On 7 March 2008, another man was arrested over the 'disposal' of a car linked to the murder investigation but was released later that same day.^[20]

On 4 August 2009 a 40 year-old man from West London was arrested and released without charge. The arrest was in relation to the disposal of a red Daewoo Nexia.^[22]

On 6 October 2009, Bedfont Lake in West London was searched by police in hope of finding the car, but neither the car nor anything else of interest to their inquiry was recovered. The car has still yet to be discovered.^[23]

On 30 March 2010, Levi Bellfield was charged with Dowler's abduction and murder.^[24] As a result of Bellfield being charged with the murder, the inquest into the death has been adjourned.^[25]

On 6 October 2010 Bellfield appeared in court via video link charged with the murder. Bellfield was formally charged with one count of attempted abduction, one count of abduction, one count of disposal of evidence and one count of murder. The trial is expected to being in early 2011.^[26]

Legacy

Dowler's parents, Sally and Bob Dowler, launched a charity called Milly's Fund on the day of Dowler's memorial service in October 2002.^[27] The charity provides risk assessment advice to teenagers, youth workers and educators. Its work includes the "Teach UR Mum 2 TXT" campaign, which encourages children and parents to stay in contact via text messaging, including a glossary for parents of commonly-used SMS abbreviations. The campaign was awarded "Best Use of Mobile for Accessibility" at the 2004 GSM Association Awards.^[28] In October 2003, the running of the charity was handed over to the Suzy Lamplugh Trust.^[29] At the 2005 Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, a garden designed in Dowler's memory by Penny Smith won the Tudor Rose award, the show's highest honour.^[30] A magenta sweetpea was named after her and made publicly available by Matthewman's Sweetpeas.^[31] A 5 part soap opera entitled "Watch Over Me" was commissioned by Milly's fund encouraging personal safety for teenagers.^[32]As of the 18th march 2003, the video was planned to be provided to every school in the U.K.^[33]

References

External links

• Milly's Fund website