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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 is episode eight of twelve

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days of Missing People throughout December,
and we are going to be discussing the

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disappearance of John Deakin in two thousand
and four. This episode is about a

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missing person and so does not contain
any graphic descriptions. However, listener discretion

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is always advised. Flamboroughhead is a
series of chalk cliffs located in the East

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Riding of Yorkshire and is well known
for Flamboroughhead Lighthouse, which marks the area

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for coastal traffic coming towards Scarborough and
Bridlington. It's an attraction for people who

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love being outdoors hiking, as well
as the various wildlife that live around the

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cliffs. On the morning of the
fourth of November two thousand and four,

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fifty three year old John Deacon left
his home on School Lane in the Stannington

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area of the city of Sheffield.
This is around four miles from the city

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center itself. John was a keen
hiker and loved to head out for long

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walks and rambles, and that morning
he told his wife Patricia that he was

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heading out for one of his usual
walks. There was nothing unusual about this,

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and it was later reported that Patricia
waved him off with a cheery smile.

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It was a cold November morning,
but John was a seasoned hiker and

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it was something he did regularly.
Later that day, however, it had

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begun to get dark and John had
still not returned to their home. It

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was at this point that Patricia started
to get a bit worried about him.

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While he loved a long walk,
John would normally have returned by this point,

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and the fact that he was out
there in winter in the dark concerned

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Patricia. She later told the Mirror
newspaper. At first, I blamed traffic,

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but then I tried his mobile and
it was switched off. I presumed

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he must still be driving. There
were many reasons why John may be late

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home, but when he had still
not returned a couple of hours after that,

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she knew something must be wrong.
This was very out of character for

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John to be gone so long,
and for him not to contact her to

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let her know that he might be
home late. She decided she had to

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contact the police to let them know
that John was missing and that he hadn't

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returned from his walk. She also
called local hospitals to see if any one

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fitting John's description or giving his name
had been admitted that day. The worrying

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thought that perhaps he had got into
an accident, of course, ran through

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Patricia's head. There was, however, no one would that name who had

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been admitted that day. Police quickly
gained a description of John from Patricia and

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began inquiries to try and locate him. They were also able to use his

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mobile phone number to trace the last
known signal from his phone and were able

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to get a location. They discovered
that the last phone signal from John's phone

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had been at around midday, and
that it transmitted from the area of Flamborough

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on the East Yorkshire coast from their
home. This was around a ninety mile

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journey and would have taken just over
two hours to drive. This did make

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sense to Patricia, who later explained
that the couple loved the area and had

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spent many happy days walking along the
cliffs. Together with this location, police

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traveled out to Flamber and began searching
for John. Patricia explained about this search,

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saying I was convinced John had fallen
and was certain they would find him.

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Police did find something, but it
wasn't John. They located his blue

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Renault Laguna car at the North Landing
car park at Flamborough Head. The car

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was locked, however, when they
were able to get inside it, they

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found that John had left the items
in the boot that he would have needed

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to set off on a hike.
It reported that he had left his walking

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boots and that they had not been
worn. He had also left behind his

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walking stick and uneaten sandwiches, which
he would have taken with him for the

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journey. Patricia would later say that
it was odd that he would leave without

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either of these two things. She
speculated quote, I think he went off

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in a hurry or intended coming back
for them. Either way, it seemed

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very strange and very out of character
for him to leave those things in his

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car, and the search for him
involved a huge search by police, a

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helicopter and two lifeboats. Given the
quite dangerous location that John had disappeared in,

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it was pivotal that they rule out
all eventualities. John, however,

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was not found during any of these
searches. While police continued looking for John,

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they spoke to Patricia about their life
together and whether there was anything that

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had been bothering John that they may
need to know about. Patricia explained that

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they were happy together and that they
shared a daughter. In fact, their

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daughter, Jennifer, was eight months
pregnant at the time that John went missing.

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She explained that she hadn't really wanted
to let Jennifer know about her fact

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disappearance, given that it would cause
her stress. However, she did infarm

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her about it. Patricia said that
John was excited for their first granddaughter to

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be born and that he would have
never left without meeting her. She said

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that they had a holiday book for
the next year and that he had made

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plans which did not indicate that he
wanted to leave or take his own life.

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Patricia did inform them that John,
who worked as an electrical engineer,

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was due to give evidence in court
on behalf of his employer the week after

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his disappearance. She said that John
had never been to court before and that

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he was a natural barn warrior and
so this may have been on his mind,

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but she explained that he had no
reason to want to run away or

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to take his own life. This
was of course of interest to the police,

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but did not really explain why John
would have disappeared. A description of

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John was issued to the public.
He was described as white, five fort

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six inches tall, of medium build, with brown eyes and black hair thinning

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on top and wearing glasses. He
was wearing a navy blue jumper, slate

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gray fleece top, and dark trousers. Police appealed for anyone who may have

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seen John that day to come forward, even if they didn't think their information

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was important. This appeal did lead
to witnesses coming forward. One couple told

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police that John had approached them and
asked them if he needed to pay to

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park when it was out of season. Another man saw John leaning against the

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information board before setting off along the
cliff path. These sightings were helpful as

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they helped to build a picture of
John's time that morning. They were a

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little confusing, though. If John
had set off along the coastal path,

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why was he not wearing his walking
or taken his sandwiches. If he had

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traveled to the area to perhaps take
his own life, which had been suggested,

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then why did he bother asking someone
about parking. Police were diligent in

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trying to find John, and it's
reported that several different agencies were involved,

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including the Coastguard, the ire and
a lie South Yorkshire Police including the Dog

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Division, the National Missing Person's Helpline, and the Salvation Army. Patricia later

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said that the charity Missing People helped
her immensely by distributing posters of John to

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the public, but also supporting her
during a time that she needed it most.

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She stated, they were a lifeline. They gave me tremendous help when

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I needed it. They assigned a
lady to help me and we've since become

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good friends. I don't know what
I'd have done without them. The situation

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was made all the more devastating by
the fact that six weeks after John's disappearance,

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their daughter Jennifer gave birth to her
daughter Freya, and he missed out

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on seeing the birth of his first
grandchild. She said, he was so

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looking forward to being a granddad.
None of it seems fair. Patricia since

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stated in two thousand and eight that
having her daughter Jennifer and her granddaughter Freya

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has given her new strength. She
said in an article in The Mirror that

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year that she had been the one
to give Jennifer away at her wedding.

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Patricia said it felt strange, but
it was something I wanted to do.

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I'm immensely proud of Jennifer. Patricia
has kept in touch with the charity Missing

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People and continues to believe in their
ability to help her and to help the

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loved ones of missing people everywhere.
She has continued to appeal for information as

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to what happened to John and said, even if I got bad news,

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it would be better than being in
limbo. My instinct tells me he's met

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with some accident or had a health
problem. He could have fallen. There's

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lots of cliff erosion there. He
would never do anything silly. He wasn't

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depressed. I used to hope he'd
lost his memory and would turn up somewhere

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safe and well. Painful as it
would be, I just wish someone had

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proof of what happened. Until then, I'll always keep a little bit of

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hope. Since John's disappearance in two
thousand and four, there has been little

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published about any movement on his case
and whether anything more has been discovered.

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It's now nearly twenty years since John
disappeared and his family still do not know

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what happened to him that day at
Flamborough Head. This is such a tragic

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and odd disappearance, given how out
of character it was and how his car

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and his belongings had been left,
someone may have seen something that day that

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could help out. If you know
any think about the disappearance of John Deacon

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on November fourth, two thousand and
four on Flamborough Head, then please contact

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the police on one oh one or
the charity Missing People. I will link

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John's missing person profile in the show
notes. Thank you for listening to episode

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eight of our twelve Days of Missing
Person episodes throughout December, listening in two

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days to episode nine. If you'd
like to support the podcast further, then

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you can on Patreon and contribute to
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month. You can also get access
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You can use the link in the
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we offer. You can also support
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including Spotify, and also just share
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YouTube and follow us on social media
as our ways. I'm Caprice and this

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has been Unseen sp