Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast dedicated to missing
people, unresolved cases, and UK true crime. Welcome to the last day
of twelve days of missing People throughout December. Today we're going to be covering
the disappearance of seventy five year old Michael Lee and Grimsby, Lincolnshire in twenty
eleven. When Michael disappeared, it came completely out of the blue for his
family and they couldn't understand what happened or where he had gone. This episode
is about a missing person and so does not contain any descriptions of violence.
However, listener discretion is advised. Grimsby is a port town in northeast Lincolnshire,
with a population in two and nineteen of around ninety thousand people. The
neighboring seaside town of Cleethorpes forms a connurbation with Grimsby, meaning that they are
connected through their proximity. It is located around forty five miles from the city
of Lincoln and around twenty eight miles from the port city of Hull. Grimsby
was once home to the largest fishing port in the world. During the mid
twentieth century, the fishing industry in the area declined sharply following the Cod Wars,
which were disputes between Iceland and the UK for fishing rights and the EU's
Common Fisheries Policy which distributed fishing rights to EU nations. This caused huge economic
problems for the town as whole families and generations lost their livelihoods as a result
of this decline. Grimsby has had some redevelopment over the years, however,
has suffered from this huge loss of industry, meaning that some of the areas
in the town as some of the most deprived in the country. Michael Lee
and his family had grown up in the town of Grimsby, and he came
from an aspiring family of entrepreneurs. His grandfather, Arthur Lee, had set
up the company Lees Furnishers in Grimsby in nineteen o one and offered its customers
beds, carpets, linoleum and bedsteads. The present day website explained about the
company that during the Edwardian era, customers were looking for style and elegance,
saying it was an exciting and innovative time in furnishing and the right time for
Arthur Lee to open our original store on Victoria Street in Grimsby. The business
flourished and Arthur Lee expanded into a bigger building next door and began to expand
his product line. He began to make the products in house in their warehouse
and delivered their products first in horse drawn carriages and then in cars and vans.
The business continued and was passed down through generations of the Lee family.
After over seventy years, the business moved to new premises on two hundred and
twenty two Victoria Street and this is where the business still stands today in the
town. It's a well known and reputable shop, with many people visiting for
their homewear and furnishings. Michael Lee was part of the third generation of the
Lee family to take on the business. As he grew up, he attended
Wintringham School and then started work for Forrester Boyd accountancy firm. In the nineteen
eighties, Michael decided to join the family business and became co director of the
furnishing firm with his older brother John for the next thirty years. Michael was
a pivotal part in the continued success of the business and did an excellent job
of steering the company in the right direction. According to those that knew him,
Michael was generally a very private man, but with a lot of close
friends. He was a very keen golfer, and when he was younger he
played competitively for Lincolnshire, the Midland Counties, and on one occasion, for
England. In his older years, Michael was an honorary member of Grimsby Golf
Club and a member of would All Spa Golf Club. By twenty eleven,
Michael was seventy five years old, but by all accounts very much still out
and about active, fully involved in the business and socializing with his friends.
On March the sixth of that year, Michael made a routine visit to his
older brother John's house, but John wasn't in at that time, and so
he spoke to John's wife. He told her that he'd see John later on
in that week. Nothing at all seemed odd about this interaction, and John's
wife would later report that he seemed his normal self. John, however,
wouldn't see his brother later on that week, as Michael didn't contact him or
come round to the house. As the days passed without any contact from Michael,
John became concerned this wasn't like him to just not speak to him for
this length of time, and when the sixteenth of March came around, John
had had enough of waiting and decided that he needed to take some action.
After being unable to locate or contact Michael, he filed a missing person's report
about his brother. He told police that he'd waited each day for contact with
Michael, but that none had come and he was worried about what might have
happened to him. Humberside police became involved and began to investigate Michael's missing person
report. It certainly seemed out of character for him to just disappear like this
and not contact his family and friends. They began to look into Michael's movements
in the time since he had last been seen. The last known sighting of
him was on March the sixth, when he'd visited his brother's house, but
after that police were unable to confirm exactly where he'd been. They were able
to recover Michael's phone records, though, and they discovered that on match the
seventh, he had made two phone calls from his landline at home. Looking
more closely into these phone calls, they found that they were to the hairdressers
and to his newsagent. Through investigation, they discovered that Michael had canceled a
hair appointment that he had booked in, and he'd also canceled his regular newspaper
delivery. While this didn't give the police any more clues as to where Michael
had gone or what had prompted this decision, it certainly seemed like an odd
thing to do in light of the fact that no one had seen him since.
Something else that police had to take into consideration was that not only was
Michael missing, but so was his car. His blue Mercedes C two twenty
was also gone, and the assumption was that wherever Michael went, he traveled
in his car. They did find CCTV footage of Michael's car traveling along the
main road and out of town, but they had no idea where it went.
After this point, they had a missing man and a missing car,
and this was a concern. Had Michael just traveled somewhere and didn't want to
speak to anyone. Had Michael got into an accident and no one had found
him. There seemed to be an abundance of theories without any real answers.
On March twenty eighth, Twelve days after John's missing person report was filed,
hum Beside police put out their first appeal for Michael. They described the circumstances
in which he had gone missing and asked people to be on the lookout for
his blue Mercedes in case they spotted it anywhere in the local area or further
afield. This appeal, however, did not bring in any new leads.
As time passed, the concern that his family had grew and grew. Michael
had still not been in contact and his car had still not been located.
The fact that time was passing without hearing anything must have been awful for his
family. By May of twenty eleven, Michael had still not been located,
and his brother John decided to make an appeal himself to the public in the
hope that someone could help his family. Police had stated that they had exhausted
all lines of inquiry the investigation and despite their best efforts, they couldn't locate
him. John told the press about how hard the previous three months had been,
saying, we are growing more worried as the days go by. We
have not heard from him for almost three months now, which is completely out
of character. We're all struck in limbo at the moment, not knowing if
something has happened to Mike or where he is, which is why we're asking
for help from the public. Someone out there may have seen Mike recently or
nowhere he is right now is he can't have just disappeared without a trace.
It seemed as though Michael and his car had just disappeared without a trace sometime
after the seventh of March, and this was just incomprehensible to his family and
the police. There didn't seem to be any reason why he would have just
left his life, and no one could understand it. His family continued to
hold out hope that he would be located and the mystery would be solved,
but by July of twenty eleven, police were still struggling to track down any
new leads. There would been no sightings of Michael during that time, and
no relevant tips had been sent in that could help them progress the investigation further.
John stated that the investigation was reaching the end of the road. He
also informed the press that the police had warned the family that they had to
be prepared that Michael may have taken his own life. John said they were
holding out hope that this wasn't the case, given that there was no evidence
of this at that point. His disappearance was so out of character that nobody
who knew him had any clue where he might have gone or why. The
baffling investigation, as a result, began to grow cold, and despite John's
dedication to trying to find his brother and his appeals, Michael was still missing.
By twenty fourteen, three years after he disappeared, John made a statement
about Michael, explaining how the family was still being affected. He said,
it's now been three years since a member of our family or one of Michael's
friends saw him or spoke to him. Not a day goes by that we
don't all think of him and hope that when that phone rings or the door
opens, it will be him. The family are all in complete limbo.
This really is out of character for Michael, and we don't know why he'd
want to leave his life in Grimsby with all his friends and family. We
would like some answers, so please anyone who may have seen Michael and think
they know where he is called the police. No matter how big or small
that information might be, please come forward. It was hoped that someone would
remember something or have seen something that they didn't think was relevant and it might
jog their memory. Unfortunately, once again nothing came in and Michael nor his
car were recovered. As time passed, so it did for the rest of
Michael's family, and in twenty sixteen, his older brother John passed away without
finding out what happened to Michael. His biggest spokesperson an advocate for his case,
had passed away without any of the answers that he so desperately wanted.
This must have been tragic for his family and did not give them the closure
that they needed. In twenty eighteen, this is what the Lee family began
looking for closure. They put in a claim to the High Court for a
declaration for presumed death, which, although a heartbreaking decision to make, has
to be done in order to set many people's affairs in order, and of
course, gives the family some closure to the sad situation. Michael's nephew,
Graham Lee, is now running the family business and is the fourth generation of
the family to do so. He spoke about the High Court application, explaining
that the family may now get closure from it. He also stated, we
still have questions. We may never get answers. This could sum up Michael's
case perfectly. There is little evidence to suggest what happened to him, and
therefore, with little evidence comes few answers. There was seemingly no indication that
anything was wrong or bothering Michael at the time that he disappeared, and there
were no obvious outside reasons why he'd want to up and disappear. His family
believed that this was very out of character. On the seventh of March twenty
eleven, he canceled both his upcoming hair appointment and his regular newspaper delivery,
got in his car and drove out of town, disappearing without a trace.
Had Michael just walked away from his life, had he taken his own life.
If this was the case, there has been no evidence to suggest it,
for instance, recovery of his body or his car. Where are these
things? This is certainly a perplexing case and one that makes me very sad.
Michael was clearly a loved family member and a member of the community in
Grimsby, and the fact we don't know what has happened to him is extremely
tragic. Humberside Police have said that they have exhausted all lines of inquiry,
but would welcome all information about Michael's disappearance, no matter how small. If
you know anything about the disappearance of Michael Lee in twenty eleven, then please
come at humber Side Police on one oh one. You can also contact the
charity Missing People using the link in the show notes. Thank you for listening
to today's episode, and I want to thank everyone for supporting the Twelve Days
of Missing People episodes throughout December. You have all been liking and sharing the
episodes and getting these cases out there, so thank you very much. I'll
be back in the new year on the fifteenth of January, so i'd like
to wish you all a happy and peaceful start to twenty twenty three and I
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notes. As always, I'm Caprice and this has been unseen