I am getting more and more reports from people in the Greater Manchester Area in response to my 'Blindspot' investigative report. Seems that more people than I realised, in and around Manchester, have not only suspected a least one serial killer stalking the region's canals for some time now, but also a general level of frustration at the inaction of local police services to take the issue seriously.
"I rent a room in a farm close to the canal in Sutton near Macclesfield, the stretch between Macclesfield and Congleton is really beautiful and I walk it regularly. Some of those mildew encrusted barges can give off a really bad vibe - I suppose it's the ideal way to drop off the radar. I lived in Manchester for years and going back to the nineties there was an urban myth doing the rounds of a gay serial killer stalking Manchester. Maybe not such a myth?"
Hi Thomas
ReplyDeleteI come from the Greater Manchester area, and I've heard rumblings of this since 2012. We've had one notorious serial killer in Harold Shipman, so why not another? I've been doing some research into this, and I do believe it is a serial killer. After a bit of looking around, here's a short list, other then the one's widely publicised, of bodies pulled out of the canal in recent years:
Unnamed white male - Canal near Ducie Street 2008
White Male - Canal in Lower Broughton December 2010, last seen, ironically, at The Mitre Bar, the last known CCTV of Chris Brahney
White Male - Manchester Ship Canal - March 2011
White Male - Canal Street - June 2012
Gurdeep Hayer - Canal near York Street - January 2012
Chris Brahney - Salford Quays - July 2012
Michael Turner - River Irk - July 2012
Souvik Pal - Bridgewater Canal - yesterday, January 2013
All male, all in their early twenties except for two. Four of whom were found last year alone. And those are just the ones I can find. Can anyone else see a pattern here? I don't buy suicides or falling into the canal accidentally when drunk. It does happen of course, but with this frequency? Not for me.
I also found this on a forum:
"My brother, Michael Turner, was found dead in the river Irk on July 28 2012. He was last seen on cctv on July 20 2012. He had a drug problem in the past. He had been clean for 18 months. He was actually on a methadone programme. He started at 80ml and he was down to 34ml, he was almost ready to be weaned off the methadone. He was on his way up. His post mortem was inconclusive to a cause of death, like 98% of the men found in rivers in the past 7 years. There were NO drugs in his blood and alcohol found his blood was well below the drink drive limit. There has been NO appeal for witnesses as apparently there is NO specific dates!!!!!! July 20 & July 28 are obviously not specific dates!!!! He also had a bike which was 4-6 weeks old, never to be seen again, even though he is seen leaving his flat with it on cctv. He had left his mobile & cigarettes in his flat, and a half eaten sandwich. Though he was found with £5 in his pocket. If he intended to kill himself, why take £5? Bus fare to Heaven? Plus, Mike had picked up his perscription for his Methodone for the weekend on the day he was last seen. If he wanted to kill himself would it not of been easier to drink all of that, it would of been enough to kill him, rather than go to the lowest part of the river Irk!!!!! Mike was 43, but there are too many inconsistencies around his death, like the numerous other poor souls found in Manchesters rivers & canals. I will not rest until I find out what happened to him!!!"
http://www.manchester-forum.co.uk/index.php/topic,7756.15.html?PHPSESSID=7f406f9f75e1100c3c787213a02f32d3
The white male who was last seen at the Mitre bar was identified as Nathan Tomlinson. At the inquest to his death it was revealed:
1) Police ‘failed to do basics' in hunt for tragic Nathan Tomlinson
and
2) The inquest heard that shortly before he left the city-centre Mitre Bar, where friends last saw him, Nathan was slapped by an unknown woman – who was never traced
Considering all the majority of bodies which have ended up in the canal are young males, it could indicate a female taking vengeance.
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/police-failed-to-do-basics-in-hunt-for-tragic-684510
I also wonder whether this may be connected in some way:
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/jailed-phone-robbery-gang-who-6142754
I'll do some more looking around. Thank you for bringing this issue to light, I really like your work.
Totally off-subject but the recent prince of wales visit to Ireland has been a spectacular example of the amazing PR the royal family are capable of.
ReplyDeleteThe word that keeps getting used, as it did previously when the queen visited, is "reconciliation".
From an etymology site;
reconcile (v.)
...directly from Latin reconcilare "to bring together again; regain; win over again, conciliate," from re- "again" (see re-) + concilare "make friendly" (see conciliate). Meaning "to make (discordant facts or statements) consistent" is from late 14c.
Funny how language can be used to muddy the water isn't it?
Thomas,
ReplyDeleteIt would be great if you could spell out (literally) the names of the authors of celtic mythology that you mentioned in VON May 13th.
Ta,
Read David Paulides new book A Sobering Coincidence that mentions a lot of cases like these around the world
ReplyDelete