Case Ref : 20031101, Downes, Charlene

Official Narrative

Charlene Elizabeth Caroline Downes (born 25 March 1989) disappeared on 1 November 2003, when she was 14, from her home town of Blackpool, a seaside town in north-west England. She was last seen in an area of the town centre that contained several takeaway and fast-food units. Lancashire Constabulary, the police force investigating her disappearance, believe that she was murdered within hours of the last sighting.

Two men were tried in May 2007—one for Downes' murder, the other for helping to dispose of her body—but the jury failed to reach a verdict. A re-trial was scheduled, but in April 2008 the accused were released because of concerns about the evidence compiled by Lancashire Constabulary.

The trials brought to light what Julie Bindel described in The Guardian in May 2008 as "endemic child sexual abuse" in the town. The police believe that, for a protracted period before her disappearance, Charlene had been the victim of child sexual abuse at the hands of one or more men

Email received

There are some programs on channel 5 this week on "the murder of Charlene downs" I'd be interested to see if there are interviews that could be good cases for using statement analysis.

Might be worth checking out.

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