Fresh appeal 20 years after boys vanish in Chelmsley Wood

STILL MISSING: Patrick Warren and David Spencer were last seen at a
Chelmsley Wood petrol station 20 years ago this month.

A MAN whose older brother disappeared during the Christmas holidays 20 years ago has made an impassioned plea for information so that his sibling can be "laid to rest."
David Spencer, then 13, and his friend Patrick Warren, 11, were last seen late on Boxing Day 1996 and despite extensive police investigations, attempts to find out what happened to the two schoolboys have been unsuccessful.
Today David's younger brother, Lee O'Toole , has spoken about how events have affected the family and made a public appeal for anyone who can help solve the case to come forward.
He was just nine-years-old at the time of the disappearance and revealed that he spent evening after evening walking around local streets trying to find the pair.
Now 29, Lee said he still suffers nightmares about the events of the mid-1990s and will not be able to rest until he finds out what happened.
"I’ve come to terms with the fact David is dead, but I wake every night wondering what happened to him and how he died," he said.
"This time of year is very hard, December 14 was David’s birthday, he would have been 33, and then Christmas just brings back memories of him vanishing.
"After all these years I just want to know where David is. If something terrible has happened, if I know about it at least I can grieve. I’m in limbo at the moment not knowing what happened.
"I would like to give him a proper funeral and have a special place that I can visit."
On December 26 1996, the two boys had told David’s family that they were staying at Patrick’s brother’s house.

APPEAL: Lee O'Toole

The last sighting of them was at the Shell petrol station, in Chelmsley Wood, at just after midnight, where they were given a packet of biscuits by an assistant working at the forecourt.
The boys were reported missing in the early hours of the next day and a full-scale search was launched.
Later, Patrick’s Christmas present, a red Apollo bicycle, was discovered at the back of the petrol station. It had been hidden in an area used for storing commercial bins.
In the years since there have been numerous public appeals for information and the case was featured on BBC's Crimewatch a decade ago.
DCI Caroline Marsh, the senior investigating officer, said that detectives continued to pursue old lines of inquiry, as well as seeking new information.
As the 20th anniversary approaches, she said that the force had no intention of closing the case while the boys' whereabouts remained unknown.
"Anyone, with any piece of information, however small they might consider it to be, should contact the police," she said. "That piece of information could ultimately lead to us finding out what has happened to Patrick and David and bring some peace to their families."