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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. This is day two of

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twelve days of missing person cases throughout
December. Today we're going to be discussing

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the disappearance of John Dobson in nineteen
eighty six. I originally covered this case

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not long ago on Patreon as a
bonus episode. However, I believe it's

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the perfect case for our twelve day
series, so I wanted to include it.

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This is a case with quite limited
information, but it's so crucial that

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all of these cases are treated equally. And while John's disappearance was featured on

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Crime Watch, there hasn't been much
movement on the case. His parents were

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featured on the show and it's clear
the pain that they were feeling. This

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episode is about a missing person,
however, does have some mention of suicide

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and sexual abuse of miners. However, this is never in graphic detail.

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Listener discretion is always advised. The
University of Lancaster was established in nineteen sixty

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four and is based around a campus
named Bailrig which is located on a three

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hundred and sixty acre site which was
donated by Lancaster City Council. Is a

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campus which incorporates teaching areas as well
as social and residential areas all in one

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campus. It is made up of
nine different colleges, which during the present

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period around thirteen thousand students are attending. It's a popular university and destination given

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its location in and very close to
the city of Lancaster. Lancaster, which

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is situated in Lancashire, is a
historic city with lots of popular time tourist

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destinations such as the Roman for and
Lancaster Cathedral. In addition to this,

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it has all of the modern amenities
of a British city and therefore makes a

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good compromise for many students choosing to
study there. In nineteen eighty six,

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the university had already been established for
over twenty years and many students went to

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study at Lancaster for many different undergraduate
and postgraduate courses. One of these students

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was twenty eight year old postgraduate student
John Dobson. John loved education, and

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his mum Jean and his dad Richard
described him as a perpetual student. He

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had always had a love of learning
and his parents had always supported him in

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his studies. They later explained that
John was a very much wanted child,

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given that the two of them had
been married for a long time and didn't

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think that they were able to have
children when they discovered that they were having

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John. While he was an only
child, he was loved and supported always.

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When John was eighteen years old,
he decided to move away from his

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home in Preston, a city in
Lancashire, and traveled to the University of

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Sussex to study in the Department of
European Studies. He had a love of

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other countries and cultures and wanted to
know more. As part of his undergraduate

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degree at the University of Sussex,
John also completed a year abroad. He

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went to study at the Sarbonne University
in Paris in France. This was an

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exciting opportunity for John, who soaked
in all of the history of the around

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eight hundred year old university and of
the city itself. It was an amazing

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chance for John, as Sarbonne is
one of the most sought after universities to

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study at in France, with Mariciuri
choosing to teach there in eighteen ninety one.

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Um Jean later said that John became
fluent in French and he was very

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bright and talented, something which she
admired in him. After he returned to

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the UK, he continued to study
and traveled to the University of York,

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before later heading back home to Preston
to live with his mom and dad.

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It was at this point that John
decided to pursue a master's degree in modern

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social history at the University of Lancaster. It was clear that John had decided

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to pursue a career in education and
was dedicated to his studies. This is

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what he was doing in the winter
of nineteen eighty six, while still living

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at home with his parents. On
the first of December nineteen eighty six,

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John traveled to University in Lancaster from
his home using the notice board at the

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UNI, he'd made an arrangement with
another student called Rod Carter. Rod had

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his own car and he lived not
far from John in Preston. He was

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a second year undergraduate student, and
they made an arrangement that Rod would give

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John a lift to campus if John
contributed towards the cost of petrol. This

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worked out as a good arrangement for
the pair of them and enabled John to

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get to university easily. On this
Monday, the first of December, Rod

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picked John up as usual and they
traveled to the campus. Rod later said

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this was a normal journey and while
John seemed a little quieter than usual,

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nothing seemed out of the ordinary that
morning. Rod later told the Crime Watch

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program that he then left John and
said that this was the last time that

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he ever saw him. It's known
that around mid morning, close to midday,

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John went to see his lecturer,
Professor Eric Evans. Eric Evans would

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later explain that he had known John
for a couple of months since he enrolled

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on the master's course which he directed. That day, John had come to

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see him about some work that he
was doing in relation to the course,

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and seeing that John perhaps wanted a
longer conversation than the professor had time for

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in that moment, he suggested to
him that he returned that afternoon so they

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could have a longer chap. The
professor later stated that it was at this

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point that John's demeanor changed a little
and he became quite noncommittal about being able

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to return later that afternoon. The
professor said that he told him he hoped

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that he could come back to speak
to him later. Professor Eric Evans,

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however, did not see him later
that day and possibly just believed he didn't

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bother coming back. This, however, was not the case. No one

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saw him later on the afternoon,
and nobody has seen him since. After

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this meeting with the professor, John
Dobson simply appeared to vanish into thin air.

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When John didn't return to his home
that day, and then he didn't

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return within the next few days,
his parents were beside themselves. John was

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twenty eight years old at the time
that he disappeared, and so was an

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adult who was entitled to do whatever
it was that he wanted. His parents

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knew, though, that this was
so out of character for him, and

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his dedication to his studies made them
believe he wouldn't just abandon these plans or

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his master's degree. They couldn't understand
what had happened to him. There was

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another thing that made his parents believe
that he had not just left to live

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another life. He had left behind
all of his beloved books, which lined

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the walls of the office in their
home. These were John's most prized possessions

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and not something that he would have
just left behind. This suggested to them

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that whatever had happened, John had
not been tending to leave suddenly. He

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also didn't have his own transper or. During the crime Watch episode about John's

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disappearance, which aired in nineteen ninety
four, his parents showed this office and

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stated that they had left it exactly
how he had left it that day in

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the hope that John would return.
Richard and Jean were quite clear that they

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hoped that John would return, as
there was no reason why he had decided

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to leave his life behind. Police
could find no evidence that John was in

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any way involved with drugs or any
financial debt that would have been affecting his

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life. They also could not find
any sexual motive for his disappearance, such

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as an impending scandal. With all
of these things ruled out, there wasn't

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a lot to go on, and
after days and then weeks of John not

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returning, his parents tried to cling
on to hope. But this must have

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been extremely difficult given the lack of
information and the not knowing about where their

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son had gone. It was seven
nearly eight years later, when crime Watch

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produced a segment about John's disappearance and
the wider public heard about his case.

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The segment came about after a feature
on the National Missing Person's Helpline. This

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helpline had been set up in the
late nineteen eighties by two police officers who

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were conscious that people were going missing
and were being labeled as runaways when foul

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play may have been a contributing factor
to their disappearance. It was noticeable that

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this was being featured in nineteen ninety
four when the horrific crimes of Fred and

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Rose West were coming to light.
Many of their victims in Gloucester were missing

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people and little had been done by
the police to try and find them or

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try and figure out what had happened. This was very much reliant on their

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lifestyle and whether it was believed that
they could have just made a new life

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for themselves. John's case and John's
parents were spoken to for this segment,

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given that his disappearance had been so
unexpected and was not seen as normal behavior

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for him. This therefore made it
one of those cases that raised a lot

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of questions. Chris Drey, who
helped to set up the helpline, discussed

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its importance and its use to families
of missing people. Unfortunately, just a

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year later, Chris Drey would be
known for a series of scandals that would

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damage his credibility. In nineteen ninety
five, he was sacked from his position

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at the charity, and it's reported
by the Mirror newspaper that he descended into

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a life of drugs and crime.
Radio two DJ Paul Gambuccini gave him a

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job as his PA. However,
this did not last long, as he

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reportedly racked up nearly twelve thousand pounds
in bills on Gambuccini's credit card. This,

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however, was not the end of
Drey's story, as in two thousand

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and five, you were sent to
prison for six and a half years for

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having indecent images on his computer and
for grooming two schoolboys for sex after meeting

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them in online chat rooms. One
of the boys was fifteen and the other

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was fourteen. The judge at the
trial stated, you have done some good

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things in your life, but now
you've been sentenced for some very bad things.

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This conclusion to Christrey's story came a
long way from the charity in which

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he helped to set up, and
cause many people to be appalled. Given

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that the original aim for the charity
was to help young runaways and vulnerable people.

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This could have ruined all of the
progress made into documenting missing persons cases,

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but thankfully the charity Missing People is
available now to support families as well

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as the UK Missing Persons Unit.
Both can and do support families to live

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without their loved ones and try to
find them. This story is tangent to

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John's, however, I believe it's
important as this Crime Watch segment is one

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of the only things we have to
go on in John's disappearance, and Chris

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Dray was a large part of that. It's clear that despite the lack of

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publicity since John's disappearance, there are
some people who still are looking for him,

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and there must be some DNA on
file to rule out any unidentified people

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who may have some similarities to him. On the twenty sixth of July nineteen

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ninety one, a body was recovered
hanging from a tree about one hundred yards

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from the Ouze Valley Railway viaduct and
located on the railway embankment. The Ouze

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Valley is located in West Sussex,
and it was thought that the man could

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have been aged between nineteen and twenty
five. He was white, European and

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was around five feet ten inches tall
with a medium build. He had dark

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curly color length hair and had a
large veruka on the instep of his left

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but he was found wearing a blue
T shirt, a gray shirt with a

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mauve colored polo neck on the top. He was also wearing a red and

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blue waterproof coat and blue jeans,
along with a denim jacket, brown suede

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walking boots and white ankle socks.
He had a belt on and this had

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been used to hang himself from the
tree. This was such a tragic discovery

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and it was hoped that his belongings
may help to identify him. He had

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a pair of what have been described
as John Lennon's style glasses with tinted photochromatic

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lenses in a morell make frame,
as well as carrying a brown leather wallet.

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He had two batteries with him,
a British tourist map of London and

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a Woolwich Building Society pen. He
also had a child's tight blue rucksack with

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Mickey and Minnie Disney motif on it, as well as twenty Cool brand cigarettes,

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an hour personal stereo and two Beverly
Craven cassette tapes. The UK Missing

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Person's Unit had done their best to
try and identify the man and had tried

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to match his description to other people
they knew about that were missing. One

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of these people that they checked against
was John Dobson. Despite being slightly older

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than the age they suspected and not
looking exactly like the man, every lead

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needed to be checked, but unfortunately
this was found not to be John Dobson,

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and the listing on the UK Missing
Person's database states he is known not

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to be him. This man is
also very sadly still unidentified, and other

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clues that they had about him was
that a witness said he had seen this

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man speaking French, and his dental
work suggested that he may well have been

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French. Interestingly, it's known that
John spoke fluent French and lived there for

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a year. This may also have
been why it was thought it could be

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him. I will link this man's
profile in the show notes for anyone to

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look at. John Dobson has still
not been found and there is little evidence

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for what happened. His parents always
believed that he would not have just left

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his life, and he did not
take anything with him to suggest this,

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only the things he needed for university
that day. Where did he go Why

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did he not go back and speak
to his professor later on? Why did

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he sound noncommittal about this meeting?
Did he have other plans? It's so

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unclear. And if he did leave
the campus, how did he get where

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he was going? He would have
had to have used public transport. Surely

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someone saw him that day. We
never know what's going through someone's head and

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the struggles that they're going through.
But no one saw any signs of anything

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wrong in John. And this is
the sad part. Did he meet with

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foul play, did he leave his
life behind? Did he harm himself?

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We just don't know. John's parents
did not get the closure they wanted,

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and John deserves to be found and
his family deserved the answers. If you

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know anything about John's disappearance, then
please contact the charity Missing People. I

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will link it in the show notes. Thank you for listening to today's episode.

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This is day two of the twelve
days of Missing People episodes in December,

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so listen out for the next episode
in two days. If you'd like

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to support the podcast further than you
can on Patreon and contribute to the exclusive

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polls to get extra bonus episodes every
month. You can also get access to

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new episodes early and ad free.
You can use the link in the show

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notes to visit Patreon and see what
we offer. You can also support us

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by reviewing the podcast wherever you listen, including Spotify, and also just share

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the episodes. You can subscribe on
YouTube and follow us on social media as

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our ways. I'm Caprice and this
has been unseen y