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Hi, and welcome back to The
Unseen Podcast, a podcast dedicated to missing

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people, unresolved cases, and UK
true crime. Today we're going to be

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exploring the disappearance of Gloria Bilby in
nineteen seventy nine. Her disappearance in Bilton,

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close to Whole in the East Riding
of Yorkshire, was both mysterious and

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worrying, given that she left behind
an eleven year old son who still does

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not know what happened to his mother. Gloria Bilby has not been seen since

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nineteen seventy nine, and Humbicide Police
have since appealed for any new information.

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This episode discusses a missing person,
but does also discuss other murders and sexual

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assaults, but not in any graphic
detail. Listener discretion is our way is

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advised. Bilton is a village in
the East Riding of Yorkshire, with a

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population of around two thousand and three
hundred people. It's located around five miles

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from the port city of Hull.
It's a small village with residents enjoying a

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quiet life close to the countryside and
the nearby amenities of city life. The

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Bilby family lived in Bilton during the
nineteen seventies and consisted of Bernard, his

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wife Gloria, and their son Nigel. The family lived on Dawnay Road in

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Bilton, and Bernard ran a butcher's
shop in Bilton Grange in East Hall.

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Gloria worked as a secretariat at the
company Wreckett and Coleman, a household products

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company which had in nineteen thirty eight
become associated with Coleman's, famous for their

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mustard. The couple were well liked. Bernard's butcher's shop was frequented by many

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people in the area, and he
was reportedly a jovial and happy man who

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was friendly to everyone. Gloria has
been described as a very beautiful woman with

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a personality to match. She was
bubbly and outgoing and made friends easily.

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From the outside, Gloria and Bernard
appeared to be a happy couple in their

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thirties, and their lives seemed to
be going in the right direction. This,

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however, was not necessarily how it
was. On the inside of their

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relationship. Gloria and Bernard were not
getting on well behind closed doors, and

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during the nineteen seventies their relationship had
begun to struggle along. From around nineteen

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seventy four, The couple had begun
sleeping in different rooms and had effectively separated

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with different rotors for household chores so
they didn't have to see one another.

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They decided, for the sake of
their son, they would continue to live

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together in their home on Darnay Road. Bernard would later tell the Whole Daily

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Mail about the situation. For the
last five years, we'd gone our own

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ways. I suppose we had different
personalities. She liked the nightlife, I

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didn't. It seemed that they had
grown apart and had realized they were very

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different people, and this must have
been a very tricky situation to manage,

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but they continued on living together as
amicably as possible throughout the nineteen seventies.

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In May nineteen seventy nine, something
had changed. Bernard Bilby phoned up the

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Humber Side Police to file a missing
person report. He explained to them that

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he hadn't seen or spoke to his
wife Gloria in three months. The last

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time he remembered seeing her was on
February the first, and he thought he'd

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heard her on February the second.
This must have seemed like an odd call

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for police, given that Bernard was
only just reporting his wife missing that long

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afterwards. Bernard later explained the situation
and that he and Gloria were actually separated.

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He also made the point that Gloria
had gone away in the past,

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and as they weren't together, she
didn't necessarily have to tell him where she

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was. He was now concerned,
however, that Gloria hadn't even made any

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attempt to get in touch with her
son, and given how loving of a

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mother she was, this was certainly
unusual. Bernard told the Whole Daily Mail

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at the time she had gone away
before for several days, telling me it

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was in connection with work. I've
since found out it was nothing to do

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with work. I wasn't bothered because
we only stayed together for the sake of

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the boy. It was definitely a
different situation and one that did concern police.

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Gloria hadn't attempted to ring or write
to her son in that time,

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and the question was why and where
was she. Humberside Police established that Gloria

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had last been seen on February the
second, nineteen seventy nine, and began

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to figure out her movements the day
prior. They discovered that on Thursday,

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February the first, Gloria had been
off from work at Wreckett and Coleman as

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it was closed due to industrial action. At around nine thirty pm, she

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visited her sister's home in Driffield,
not far from her own home. She

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told her that she'd been in Bridlington
and Driffield that day with what has been

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described as a male associate. At
around eleven pm that night, Gloria's brother

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in law had walked her home the
short distance to her house. When she

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arrived, Bernard made a statement that
he gave Gloria three thousand pounds in cash

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as part of a separation settlement.
She intended to buy a car from a

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local garage the next day and was
going to use the money to do this.

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This amount has also been reported as
three thousand, five hundred pounds,

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However, it's unclear which is correct
from the reporting. Bernard then explained that

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the following morning, he woke up
at around six am and he heard what

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he thought was Gloria leaving the home
and a car driving away from the house.

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Bernard later explained that it was at
this point that he realized she must

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have left him, as he noticed
that she had taken some of her clothes

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he stated about six am on Friday, February the second, the alarm went

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off. I woke up, and
just after this I heard Gloria leave the

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house and a car leave the driveway. I realized then that she had left

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me. I always thought in the
back of my mind she would leave me,

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but I was still upset. It
seemed. From that point Bernard believed

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that Gloria had simply left him and
that was why she hadn't been in touch,

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but the fact that she then didn't
get in contact with their son made

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him concerned. Bernard reportedly told police
that Gloria had mentioned to him a few

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months before she disappeared that she had
a passport, and this was nowhere in

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the home. It was strange,
however, the other personal paperwork that Gloria

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may have needed was left behind,
and when police looked into it, there

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was no attempt by her to sort
out any of her financial affairs. She

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had packed most of her clothes and
had taken her jewelry. Police checked up

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on the fact that Gloria was meant
to be paying for a Ford Capri car

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at a local garage on Friday the
second, and it appeared that she never

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arrived there to pay and drive the
car away. Whatever had happened that day,

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Gloria had changed her plans. The
other fact was that she hadn't let

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her employer know that she was planning
on leaving her job. She hadn't mentioned

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it to her bosses or to any
of her colleagues. Why had Gloria taken

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some of her things but not sorted
out everything before she left. The disappearance

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was a puzzling one and must have
been hugely distressing for everyone involved, including

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Gloria's family and of course her son. Police began looking into Gloria's life and

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of course her personal relationships. This
led police down a path which would come

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to define the narrative in this case. Much of the reporting seems to focus

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on Gloria's striking looks and her relationships
with several other men. While Gloria's relationships

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were of course important to the investigation
into her disappearance, we do also have

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to be said pentative to the fact
that Gloria is still a missing person and

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her privacy still needs to be taken
into account. It's clear that Gloria and

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Bernard were separated, and so it's
reported that Gloria did have relationships with other

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men during the time that she and
Bernard were still living together. The nature

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of these relationships are mostly unknown.
However, police were interested in several different

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people who had been seen with Gloria
are people who had associated with her over

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the years. One person they were
particularly interested in tracking down was a man

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that neighbors had identified as visiting the
house several times during lunchtime hours, and

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they had actually seen him. On
Friday, the second of February, neighbors

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reported seeing a smartly dressed man that
they had come to nickname Dapper Dan pull

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up around mid morning on that Friday
that Gloria disappeared. He pulled up in

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a red Ford Escort outside Gloria's home. Gloria then came out with a suitcase

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and he helped her put it into
the car. The pair then drove off.

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This seemed like an important piece of
information, however, it did conflict

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with Bernard's account of that morning.
He stated that Gloria left at six am.

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Whether Bernard then left for work and
Gloria returned home for more of her

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belongings is unclear. However, there
are no reports that state that neighbors also

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saw her leaving at six am,
or that they saw her returning before finally

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leaving for good. The fact that
this man had been seen at the house

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on several occasions led credence to the
fact that he could have been there that

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day. However, it also could
suggest that these neighbors were remembering the wrong

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day and simply believed it to be
February the second. Police were looking into

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this three months after Gloria disappeared,
and therefore people's memories may not have been

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as fresh as they could have been. Regardless, this man had known Gloria

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and so it was important to try
and track him down. He was described

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as about forty years old, five
ft nine inches tall, of a slim

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build, and had graying hair.
He apparently looked like an executive type.

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It's reported in the Whole Daily Mail
that this man may have matched the description

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of a man who worked as a
newspaper seller and lived less than a mile

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from Bernard's butcher shop. He also
sometimes carried out errands for Bernard. This,

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however, seems to be speculative information
and may have had nothing to do

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with that man at all. There
was another man that police were interested in

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tracing, and this man had been
seen visiting Gloria at work. This man

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had picked her up at Ricketts and
Coleman during July and August of nineteen seventy

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eight. He was seen picking her
up at lunchtimes in a red Morris eleven

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hundred car. This man was described
as well built, with dark hair,

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and he usually wore an open necked
shirt and didn't wear a tie or a

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jacket. Whether either of these men
were important to the investigation was unknown.

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However, they may have been able
to paint a picture of what was going

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on with Gloria at the time that
she did disappear. Gloria's disappearance captured the

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attention of the local area, and
people were concerned about where she had gone.

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Bernard also began to be the center
of attention from local people, and

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despite being well liked at his butcher's
shop, the community began to wonder if

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he could have had anything to do
with Gloria's disappearance. In their mind,

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he had been the last one to
see Glory Warrior, and he hadn't reported

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her missing for three months. Gloria
had also been reportedly seeing other men,

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and to some people in the local
community, this was a motive regardless of

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their understanding of Gloria and Bernard's relationship. It's reported in the Whole Daily Mail

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that members of the community didn't hesitate
to comment on the fact that they thought

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Bernard had something to do with Gloria's
disappearance, with one person spray painting a

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message on the wall of his home. They disrespectfully wrote, Gloria sausages sold

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here. Bernard denied any involvement in
the disappearance of his wife, but it

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was a line of inquiry that police
had to check on. Bernard was interviewed

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several times in relation to it,
but police couldn't and haven't, by the

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looks of it, since, found
anything to link him to her disappearance.

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They did follow up and reportedly checked
the meat grinder that he used his shop,

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but nothing was found that was unusual
or out of the ordinary. For

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his part, Bernard offered a five
hundred pound reward for anyone that knew anything

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about Gloria's disappearance and did appeal for
information about her whereabouts. One of the

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lines of inquiry that police were hoping
to follow upon was the news that before

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she disappeared, Gloria had told friends
and family that she was worried because she

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had been receiving nuisance calls to her
home. She even mentioned it on the

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evening before she went missing at her
sister's home, saying that she didn't really

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want to return home because she didn't
want to receive any more phone calls.

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This seemed to be something that had
disturbed and possibly scared Gloria. However,

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it would seem that she never divulged
any suspicions of who this person could be

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that was making them. We also
don't know the content of these calls.

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The general feeling that police seemed to
have at the time was that some one

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must have information that they had just
not divulged yet. During the next several

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months and years, police continued to
try and find out if Gloria had left,

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then where had she gone to.
This was proving extremely difficult, as

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despite Gloria having many friends and knowing
many people, no one seemed to be

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offering up the crucial information about where
she went. Christmas of nineteen seventy nine

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came and went without Gloria contacting anyone
in her family and sadly, without sending

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her son a Christmas card or present. This was certainly out of character for

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Gloria, who everyone described as a
devoted mother. Detective Superintendent Carmichael, who

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was leading the investigation at the time, spoke in nineteen eighty about Gloria's disappearance,

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and he explained that they had checked
as many different official channels as they

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could to track her down, including
through the passport office and Interpol. Gloria

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had had a passport issued, as
Bernard had suggested, but it was a

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yearly passport and had expired in October
nineteen seventy nine. It had not been

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renewed. Eight sightings had come in
from places around the world like Sweden,

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Germany and Meaca in Spain. Detective
Superintendent Carmichael described all of these as well

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intentioned mistakes and had nothing to do
with Gloria's disappearance. Other official places such

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as Department of Employment were checked and
there was no sign of Gloria in any

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records or something that looked like it
could be an alternate identity. He explained.

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The investigation is based on the ninety
percent possibility that serious harm has befallen

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her. In spite of all the
publicity it has received, there has not

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been one iota of concrete information as
to her current whereabouts. He added,

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we have looked into all motives for
her disappearance, but the case remains a

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complete mystery. I do not accept
that a woman as attractive and respectable as

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this lady could just disappear off the
face of the earth without trace. Neither

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do I accept that she could be
so callous and hard hearted that she would

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neglect to contact her family if she
were able. Detective Superintendent Carmichael renewed his

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appeal for information and hoped at that
time someone would come forward with information.

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He also appealed to Gloria herself,
stating that he would accept a phone call

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from her, saying she's safe and
well, and that he did not want

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to pry into her life further if
she had just walked away from her life.

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This, however, did not appear
to be what the police believe to

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be the most likely outcome in the
case. That year, Gloria's family felt

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that they could get their hopes up
when one of her relatives was watching an

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episode of the TV show The Professionals. They spotted someone in the background who

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looked very much like Gloria, and
rang Humberside Police with the tip officers traveled

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down to London to speak to the
agencies that dealt with the extras in the

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program and managed to track down the
woman in question. They were able to

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ascertain that this was not Gloria.
Detectives stated that they were back at square

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one. During the next several years, many tips were called in to police

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and all of them were followed upon. In nineteen eighty one, police were

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investigating Tramby Lodge, a Grade two
listed building in Hull, after a man

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called in a tip saying he saw
a woman who looked like Gloria entering there

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with a man in the spring of
nineteen seventy nine. They got out of

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a red car of a similar description
to the man saw driving her away on

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the day she disappeared. Nothing,
however, was found there. In nineteen

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eighty one, police were also trying
to ascertain whether the body of a woman

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found near Scoton More, close to
Sutton Bank in North Yorkshire could be Glorias.

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This unidentified woman came to be known
as the Nude in the Nettles due

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to how she was recovered. The
body was ruled out as belonging to Gloria,

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and the Nude in the Nettles is
still unidentified and is a case we

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reported early on in the podcast.
In nineteen eighty two, it was reported

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that Bernard Bilby had divorced Gloria.
This became quite big news given that Glory

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was still missing and CID officers were
involved with the case. He was granted

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a decree absolute to end the marriage, and when asked about it, Bernard

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00:20:00.680 --> 00:20:03.200
stated, there's nothing I wished to
say. I don't want to go into

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details. That same year, officers
searched the area of Market Waiton in the

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East Riding of Yorkshire. The search
came about due to a tip off from

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00:20:15.200 --> 00:20:19.400
a clairvoyant who stated that they had
a vision that Gloria's body was in that

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00:20:19.519 --> 00:20:26.440
area. With a lack of other
evidence, Humberside Police did take it seriously

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00:20:26.720 --> 00:20:32.000
and members of the Underwater Search Unit
and the four Support Group searched the stream

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00:20:32.119 --> 00:20:38.680
and the area around there extensively,
but found nothing of interest. In nineteen

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eighty three, police received an anonymous
letter stating that Gloria may have been buried

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in the back garden of a home
in Coltman Street in Hull. The back

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garden was dug up by hand by
officers and sniffer dogs were brought in.

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However, again like other searches,
nothing of interest was found. Police were

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00:21:00.759 --> 00:21:06.279
very interested in finding out who had
authored the anonymous letter and published a picture

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00:21:06.319 --> 00:21:10.880
of it in the Whole Daily Mail. It was reported that the letter had

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no stamp and therefore police were unsure
where it was posted, but they believed

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00:21:15.640 --> 00:21:19.799
it had come from someone who was
probably local to Hull. Police stated that

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00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:26.200
they wanted to discuss the implications of
the letter with the person who wrote it.

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00:21:26.279 --> 00:21:30.279
Nothing, however, seemed to have
come from this appeal, and in

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00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:36.599
the years that followed articles were published
discussing Bernard Bilby's private life and explaining that

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he had gotten remarried and moved out
of the home that he and Gloria shared

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00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:45.880
in Darnay Road. While it was
reported that Bernard may have moved on in

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00:21:45.920 --> 00:21:51.880
that respect, it's clear that Gloria's
family hadn't, and of course neither had

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00:21:51.880 --> 00:21:57.480
her son. At the disappearance of
his mother in nineteen eighty seven, Gloria's

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case was reinvigorated when it began to
be linked to an awful crime that had

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00:22:02.799 --> 00:22:08.119
been committed in Bristol on the eighth
of October nineteen eighty seven, twenty nine

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year old Shirley Banks went shopping at
the Broadmead shopping area in Bristol. It

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00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:18.359
was around seven forty pm and she
was going to meet her husband Richard for

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a drink afterwards, but she never
turned up. When she hadn't returned the

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00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:27.880
next morning, Richard rang up her
work, only to be told she rang

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00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:34.720
up six fifteen minutes earlier. Richard
was concerned and rang police after she hadn't

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00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:41.599
returned that night. To begin with, police were unsure of what had happened

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00:22:41.599 --> 00:22:45.720
to Shirley. However, more investigation
into the suspect and another crime led them

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to John Canan. Canan was wanted
after an assault on a shop assistant in

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Leamington, SPA. Passer bys had
chased him and police eventually arrested him.

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And his arrest they found a knife
with blood on it, rope, some

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of which was concealed in a toilet
system, and an imitation hang gun.

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Canan was known to police and had
been arrested for several different crimes in this

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past, including rape and robbery.
He had previously held up shop assistance at

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knife point and attacked his own wife. Police knew he was a violent man

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and that he should be looked into
closely. The day before Shirley's disappearance,

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a woman named Julia Holman had been
attacked in Bristol and the man had tried

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00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:41.680
to abduct her at gunpoint, but
Julia had bravely fought the man off and

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managed to get away. This near
abduction and then disappearance of another woman was

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00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:52.680
certainly worrying, and the attacked by
John Canan in the same month led police

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to look more closely into him as
a suspect. Three weeks after Shirley dis

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pared, police searched Canan's car and
found a tax disc inside a briefcase in

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his glove compartment. This tax disc
belonged to Shirley Banks's car. When police

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searched a lock up garage at his
flock of flats, inside they found Shirley's

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00:24:17.559 --> 00:24:22.559
orange Mini Clubman, which had been
painted blue clearly in an effort to disguise

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its identity. Police later recovered Shirley's
body six months after she went missing in

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the Quantock Hills in Somerset. It
was clear that she had been hit over

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00:24:33.039 --> 00:24:40.079
the head many times with what was
thought to be a rock. Police were

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00:24:40.079 --> 00:24:44.960
able to link Canan to Shirley's murder
through fingerprints found in his home and also

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00:24:45.079 --> 00:24:48.119
blood that was found on a raincoat
which could not be discounted as belonging to

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Shirley's blood group. Canan was charged
and convicted on her murder in nineteen eighty

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nine. He was also convicted of
the attack of Julia Holman after she positively

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00:25:00.079 --> 00:25:07.400
identified him as the perpetrator. This
was not the last that was heard of

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00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:11.160
John Canan, however, as he
has long been one of the only suspects

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00:25:11.200 --> 00:25:18.119
in the infamous disappearance of Susie Lamplew
in nineteen eighty six in Fulham. Susie

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00:25:18.200 --> 00:25:21.880
was an estate agent who had gone
to show a possible client around a home

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00:25:22.039 --> 00:25:26.839
in Charrold's Road in Fulham on the
twenty eighth of July nineteen eighty six.

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The client had given a name of
mister Kipper, and Susie attended the viewing

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00:25:33.160 --> 00:25:37.039
of the home. She never returned
to work and she has been missing ever

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00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:44.200
since. Susie's case is a huge
one with lots of investigation and twists and

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00:25:44.319 --> 00:25:48.680
turns, which I won't go into
in this episode, but I have covered

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00:25:48.680 --> 00:25:52.359
it on the podcast previously. So
feel free to listen to that more in

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00:25:52.440 --> 00:25:56.880
depth. Mister Kipper was of huge
interest to police and they knew it was

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00:25:56.920 --> 00:26:03.160
a false name. Police now believed
that John Canan could have been this man.

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00:26:03.759 --> 00:26:07.920
Canan was known to frequent pubs in
Fulham and was suspected earlier on in

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00:26:07.920 --> 00:26:15.799
his life to possibly be the house
for sale rapist. During the nineteen seventies

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00:26:15.799 --> 00:26:19.319
and early eighties, a man was
attacking and raping women in the West Midlands.

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00:26:21.799 --> 00:26:25.200
These attacks were taking place in homes
that were for sale in the area,

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00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:29.960
and he was then attacking women who
were alone there. This, of

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00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:33.039
course, was strikingly similar to what
police believe had happened to Susie that day

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00:26:33.079 --> 00:26:40.000
when she visited the house. It
was also known that Canan had visited Sharold's

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00:26:40.079 --> 00:26:44.920
Road itself a few days before Susie
disappeared, but when he discovered that the

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00:26:44.920 --> 00:26:48.680
woman in the home wasn't alone and
her husband was there, he left.

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00:26:49.400 --> 00:26:55.160
There were many circumstantial pieces of evidence
to link Canan to Susie Lamplew, and

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he was arrested several times during two
thousand and two thousand and one about her

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00:26:59.880 --> 00:27:07.279
possible murder. Canan reportedly denied any
involvement and provided the police with little information.

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He continues to deny any involvement in
many of the crimes that he has

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00:27:11.559 --> 00:27:18.599
committed. Humberside Police were interested in
John Canan as a possible suspect in Gloria's

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00:27:18.640 --> 00:27:25.519
disappearance. It's unclear exactly why they
believe that Canan may have been responsible.

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00:27:26.119 --> 00:27:29.799
However, the one thing that may
have been an important fact was that she

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00:27:29.839 --> 00:27:33.920
had last been seen getting into a
car with a smartly dressed man who looked

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00:27:33.960 --> 00:27:38.920
like an executive type. Canan was
known to dress smartly and be relatively charming.

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00:27:40.839 --> 00:27:44.440
He could come across as someone who
was successful, and this may have

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00:27:44.480 --> 00:27:49.359
been a draw for Gloria. Canan
was also known to join dating agencies to

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00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:55.839
meet women. It would appear,
however, that Humberside Police made no links

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00:27:55.880 --> 00:27:59.000
to Canan in the end, and
may well have just been covering all of

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00:27:59.039 --> 00:28:11.440
their bases with investigation. Gloria's case
seems to go cold after this, and

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00:28:11.480 --> 00:28:18.039
despite the huge amount of investigation that
happened during the nineteen eighties, little evidence

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00:28:18.119 --> 00:28:23.200
our new information was forthcoming. This
is the way that Gloria's case remained and

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00:28:23.319 --> 00:28:32.599
still remains today in two thousand and
thirteen, humber Side Police reopened the investigation

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00:28:32.880 --> 00:28:37.559
and hope to uncover new information or
evidence that could finally help to solve the

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00:28:37.599 --> 00:28:44.400
mystery. At the time, Detective
Chief Inspector Matt Hutchinson said, this is

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00:28:44.440 --> 00:28:48.799
a review of a long term missing
person. We are exploring the possibility she

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00:28:48.920 --> 00:28:55.359
came to some harm. She may
well have had an accident or committed suicide.

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00:28:55.880 --> 00:28:59.200
We need to review all of the
case papers and explore all of the

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00:28:59.240 --> 00:29:04.000
possibility. We will be going right
back to the beginning, looking at the

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00:29:04.079 --> 00:29:08.720
circumstances surrounding her disappearance and all of
the work that was done at the time

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00:29:08.839 --> 00:29:15.440
around her lifestyle, her home life
and the people she associated with. We

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00:29:15.480 --> 00:29:19.880
will be concentrating on the last time
she was seen and what the inquiry found

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00:29:19.960 --> 00:29:25.799
after that. We have spoken to
her family and a number of other witnesses.

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00:29:26.039 --> 00:29:30.160
The feelings of the detectives at the
time was that there were a lot

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00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:33.200
of people who knew Gloria and socialized
with her, and they may have had

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00:29:33.240 --> 00:29:38.880
more information than was originally passed on
to police. It's never too late to

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00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:44.640
come forward with any information. We
would like to know who she was seeing

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00:29:44.640 --> 00:29:48.680
at the time, what her movements
were, and the places she frequented,

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00:29:48.279 --> 00:29:52.079
because it might give us a clue
as to who she might have gone missing

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00:29:52.079 --> 00:29:59.359
with or where she might have ended
up. People will remember this case.

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00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:03.279
Gloria was beautiful and was well known
in the local area. It was a

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00:30:03.359 --> 00:30:08.519
very high profile case at the time. There were lots of rumors and speculation

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00:30:08.599 --> 00:30:14.400
as to what might have happened to
her. We will be exploring every one

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00:30:14.400 --> 00:30:19.839
of these rumors to establish if there
is any truth to them. The reopening

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00:30:19.839 --> 00:30:25.000
of the investigation was a significant step. However, despite the hope that something

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00:30:25.039 --> 00:30:32.319
would be uncovered, Gloria's case remained
unsolved and a mystery. In two thousand

336
00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:37.720
and nineteen, another development was made
when an inquest was finally scheduled in Gloria's

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00:30:37.759 --> 00:30:42.400
case. The inquest looked at all
of the information available, and assistant coroner

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00:30:42.519 --> 00:30:48.680
David Rosenberg concluded that the only reasonable
thing that he could conclude was that she

339
00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:52.839
was dead. He said, over
forty years have elapsed and no evidence has

340
00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:57.680
been produced about missus Bilbeer trying to
contact her son or other members of her

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00:30:57.720 --> 00:31:04.000
family. There was no proof of
life on any data record. She was

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00:31:04.000 --> 00:31:10.000
officially declared dead forty years after going
missing, and this must have been a

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00:31:10.079 --> 00:31:17.480
huge moment for Gloria's family and I'm
sure a distressing one. Detective Superintendent Matt

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00:31:17.480 --> 00:31:22.119
Baldwin from Humberside Police also spoke to
the inquest, saying we have a number

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00:31:22.119 --> 00:31:29.079
of unsolved cases which are never closed. Gloria Bilbie's disappearance is one such case

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00:31:29.160 --> 00:31:33.160
which will continue to be reviewed by
the Major Crime Unit. Not knowing is

347
00:31:33.160 --> 00:31:37.519
bad enough losing a loved one,
but not knowing what happened or having a

348
00:31:37.559 --> 00:31:44.240
place to go to pay respects must
be unbearable. Certainly, this case has

349
00:31:44.279 --> 00:31:48.079
been high profile and having to live
through this must have been very difficult.

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00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:56.279
In the intervening forty years, Gloria
Bilbie's case has been fraught with speculation and

351
00:31:56.359 --> 00:32:00.519
insinuation from the beginning of the investigation
and has been high profile case within the

352
00:32:00.599 --> 00:32:07.799
local community what happened to Gloria.
Much has been made of the fact that

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00:32:07.839 --> 00:32:10.640
Gloria was seeing other men at the
time that she disappeared, and this must

354
00:32:10.640 --> 00:32:15.039
somehow mean that she did just walk
away from her life. But we also

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00:32:15.079 --> 00:32:19.400
have to remember that she was a
loving mother of an eleven year old son,

356
00:32:19.960 --> 00:32:23.599
and she has not once tried to
contact him after she left. Would

357
00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:29.400
she really have done this voluntarily?
This is the point that makes me think

358
00:32:29.440 --> 00:32:32.440
twice, along with the fact that
there has been no proof of life found

359
00:32:32.920 --> 00:32:38.400
for her after all these years.
If she was killed, who did it?

360
00:32:38.440 --> 00:32:43.720
And why? Was it someone that
she knew or was it a stranger?

361
00:32:44.839 --> 00:32:49.000
Were those nuisance calls relevant to her
disappearance, and if they were,

362
00:32:49.319 --> 00:32:53.559
who was doing it. There are
so many unknowns in this case, like

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00:32:53.720 --> 00:33:00.319
many missing people, but Gloria's family
deserve answers to all of these questions and

364
00:33:00.440 --> 00:33:04.960
her case is no less relevant to
them despite the time that has passed by.

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00:33:07.119 --> 00:33:13.640
Humberside Police have stated this was an
extensive investigation during which many lines of

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00:33:13.720 --> 00:33:20.200
inquiry were exhausted. We regularly conduct
reviews of long term missing people. Unsolved

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00:33:20.200 --> 00:33:24.279
cases are never closed, however,
they often remain inactive for periods of time.

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00:33:27.119 --> 00:33:30.880
On Beside Police will continue to take
any tips or evidence, and so

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00:33:30.920 --> 00:33:36.240
if you do know anything about Gloria
Bilby's disappearance, then please do contact them

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00:33:36.319 --> 00:33:39.599
either on one oh one or at
crime Stoppers at oh eight hundred five five

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00:33:40.240 --> 00:33:46.680
one one one. Thank you for
listening to today's episode. If you'd like

372
00:33:46.720 --> 00:33:51.599
to support the podcast further, then
you can on Patreon and contribute to the

373
00:33:51.599 --> 00:33:55.759
exclusive polls to get extra bonus episodes
every month. You can also get access

374
00:33:55.799 --> 00:34:00.640
to new episodes earlier and add free. You can use the link in the

375
00:34:00.680 --> 00:34:05.119
show notes to visit Patreon and see
what we offer. You can also support

376
00:34:05.200 --> 00:34:08.480
us by reviewing the podcast wherever you
listen, including Spotify, and also just

377
00:34:08.559 --> 00:34:15.199
share the episodes. You can subscribe
on YouTube and follow us on social media.

378
00:34:15.719 --> 00:34:19.280
You can also subscribe and listen to
my other podcast, ten Minute True

379
00:34:19.320 --> 00:34:22.760
Crime, which tells infamous crimes in
a short form, bite size ten minutes

380
00:34:23.199 --> 00:34:28.760
for people on the go or who
just like the facts. Find that wherever

381
00:34:28.800 --> 00:34:32.920
you listen and in the show notes. As always, I'm Caprice and this

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00:34:34.000 --> 00:34:35.280
has been unseen

