Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast dedicated to missing
people, unresolved cases, and UK true crime. Today, I'm bringing you
an episode about Nicola Ray, a mother of two who disappeared in two thousand.
Nicola's story needs more coverage and I first released this episode as a bonus
episode on Patreon back in October of twenty twenty two. I've decided to release
this episode on the main feed because more people need to hear her story,
and while the episode is on the shorter side, it's so important that everyone's
stories are heard. This episode is about a missing person and so does not
contain any graphic details, but listener discretion is always advised. The town of
Basildon is located in the County of in the east of England. There are
three cities in the county, South End, Colchester and Chelmsford, and Basildon
is located relatively close to all of these. As well as only being twenty
six miles from London. It's a well connected place, with people regularly commuting
from there to central London for work, and it's good transport links makes it
a popular choice with commuters. It's also one of the most densely populated areas
in the country, and the population has grown rapidly throughout the twentieth century.
Voicy Gardens is located around one point four miles outside of the town center and
sits close to a park and an industrial estate. The relatively small street comprises
of rows of two story terrace houses with gardens. This street was where thirty
year old Nicol Array was living with her fiance, Timothy Barnes in the year
two thousand. Nicola was the mother of two daughters who were aged eleven and
seven, and while it can be assumed that they also lived with her at
her address, it isn't actually clear if they did. It's reported that the
couple would you to be married in August of two thousand. However, in
an article in the Gazette and Standard from two thousand and one, this is
disputed, saying that they were meant to be getting married in late May or
June of that year. They were, however, definitely living together in May
of that same year. Unfortunately, there isn't much reported about Nicola as a
person. However, from the statements that we do have, it's clear that
Nicola was a loving mother and would very much do anything for her children.
She was a sociable person who had friends that she spent time with and they
enjoyed being with her. She had a job as a barmaid at the time,
and it would appear that by May of two thousand, Nicola was just
going about her normal life life, spending time with her children, seeing friends,
and planning her wedding. Spending time with friends was exactly what she was
doing. On the evening of May the second, two thousand, Nicola had
planned on having a few drinks with her friend Loretta Kelly and traveled to the
Moon on the Square Poor Bim Basildon. This was around three point five miles
from her home in Voicy Gardens. Loretta reported that Nicola had been her normal
self and there were no signs that there was anything drastically wrong. In fact,
the two women had then decided to go back to Loretta's house in the
early hours of the morning to carry on their evening. Not long after,
around one thirty am, Nicola decided that she would make her way home.
It was less than a mile from Loretta's home to Nicola's and she set off
walking to Voicey Gardens. This was the normal evening and walking that distance home
was something that many people would do, particularly after being on a night out.
The problem this evening was that after this walk home, Nicola seemed to
vanish into thin air. It was soon clear to people who knew Nicola that
something was wrong when she didn't contact them and no one knew where she was.
When she hadn't contacted her two daughters, and hadn't been doing her normal
routine, her friends and family began to be concerned that something was wrong.
It was soon figured out that Nicola hadn't been seen since she had been out
with Loretta Kelly on made the second and had made the walk home. This
was alarming given that Nicola had been walking in the early hours of the morning
and it wasn't known what had happened to her. Since her friends and family
were worried about her welfare, and the police were soon involved in the missing
person investigation. It was a concerning case from the outset, given the circumstances
that she had disappeared in and the fact that she hadn't contacted anyone since that
evening. It became even more worrying when police looked at Nichola's bank records to
see if they could trace her using these. Since the night have made the
second her bank account had been left untouched. She hadn't taken any more out
or spent any either. If she didn't have any money on her then what
was she using to live on. This was a huge worry and police decided
to search Nichola's home on Voicey Gardens. It has been reported that when the
house was searched, they found that some of her clothes appeared to be missing,
but that she hadn't taken anything else with her. It's also stated that
police didn't find any evidence of a suicide note in the house that would imply
that she had left. For this reason, it has been stated by some
sources is that at the time of Nicola's disappearance, she had been suffering from
depression, and this may have been the reason that police investigated this particular line
of inquiry. Despite not finding anything at the house that would leave them concerned,
it seems that something led police to continue to focus their efforts on her
home. They carried out several digs and searches at the site in the hope
of recovering a piece of evidence that would lead to a breakthrough. Unfortunately,
though nothing was found to point to what exactly happened to Nicola that night,
Her timeline after she left Loretta's house is unknown, and it isn't clear if
she ever arrived home that night. However, the fact that police were searching
the address suggested that perhaps they did believe that she may have made it home.
People close to Nicola were interviewed, including her fiance Timothy. The result
of these interviews have never been published, and their statements have never been made.
Loretta did speak to the press about Nicola's disappearance that evening and spoke about
how she'd been affected by it. She told the Gazette and Standard in two
thousand and one, I have prayed that every knock on my door and every
phone call I've ever received since then is Nicola calling to say she's all right.
But as the months have passed, my hope has faded of ever seeing
her again. It's really awful to think she might be lying dead somewhere,
but the thought of something dreadful happening to her cannot be put out of my
mind. Loretta explained that Nicola had missed her eldest child's birthday and did not
spend Christmas with them either. She explained how out of character this was for
her, saying she loved her kids and it would take something serious for her
not to contact them. This was a sentiment which appeared to be shared by
many people that knew Nicola, and this for them unfortunately appointed to the possibility
that she may have met with foul play. Despite little being published about the
actual investigation, inquiries were being made for Nicola far and wide. Inquiries were
made across the country, with friends of hers in Liverpool being contacted and inquiries
even being made with Police Scotland about her disappearance. Her information was being put
up and disseminated across the country in the hope that someone knew something about where
she had gone, but it appeared that nobody had seen her. No sightings
were made of Nicola after her disappearance, and this in itself was strange,
given that in most missing person cases, information about possible sightings do regularly come
in. This, no doubt, caused her friends and family more distress,
and the constant worrying about where she was and what had happened to her must
have been excruciating. In February two thousand and one and announced it was made
in the case. Timothy Barnes, Nicola's fiance, had been arrested for questioning
by police. This was a significant development given that he was so close to
the case and lived with Nicola. This suggested that police perhaps were working a
theory that he was in some way involved in her disappearance. Timothy, however,
was released without charge by police not long after, and police revealed nothing
about the reason for his arrest or for his release. Nicola had still not
been located and nor had any evidence about what had happened to her that morning.
The family were no closer to finding out what had happened, and neither,
it appeared, were the police. After this point, Nicola's case began
to grow cold, with nothing really being reported or published in newspapers are by
the police. Nichola's children grew up without their mother and without knowing what happened
to her in the early hours of that morning. Ten years passed without much
information at all being published. In twenty ten, close to the ten year
anniversary of Nicholas's disappearance, several developments took place at once. In the middle
of April twenty ten, Essex Police announced that they were doing fresh searches of
her home in voicy gardens, as well as digging up areas around the home.
They used X ray devices and ground penetrating radar to analyze anything that might
be buried underneath the garden or the floor. This had already been done in
two thousand when she initially disappeared. However, technology had improved since then.
It wasn't reported why these new searches had come up. However, something else
took place in April that perhaps gave a reason for this. It was announced
that a forty seven year old man had been arrested in connection with Nichola's disappearance.
It was later revealed that this forty seven year old man was in fact
Timothy Barnes, who still lived at the house in twenty ten. This news
that he had been arrested for a second time in ten years was quite a
shock, given that he had been released in two thousand and one without charge.
Essex police, however, clearly had some reason to arrest Timothy again in
twenty ten, along with searching the property and digging up the garage. Despite
the arrest and the new searches, nothing was found, and not long after
his arrest Timothy was once again released without charge. What had seemed like a
possible breakthrough amounted to very little Once again. This news must have been disheartening
for her family and again brought them back to square one on the investigation.
Since twenty ten, little has been published about Nicola's disappearance and there haven't been
many updates to her case made in the public. The most recent news that
I can find about her case was a four line write up in a local
newspaper article along with twenty other unsolved crimes in Essex. This is the sad
reality of unsolved cases that they do tend to drop out of the press and
then as a result, information is not passed on as regularly to police.
Detective Inspector Cliff Haynes from Essex Police stated their dedication to finding Nicola and what
happened to her, saying we are determined to trace this woman, but I
have grave concern for her because there have been no sightings for some time.
The whole business is a mystery, especially she's not even been in touch with
her children. Nicola's disappearance is indeed shrouded in a lot of mystery. What
happened to her after she left Loretta's house after her night out. Did she
encounter someone along her route that wanted to do her harm, or did she
make it home and something happened to her there. It's clear that Nicola didn't
take enough with her for her to be away for a long time, and
that being out of contact with her friends and family was not normal for her,
so this in itself implies that whatever happened that night, Nicola hadn't planned
for it. This also suggests that she may not have gone voluntarily. Police
haven't been forthcoming with the evidence or information that they have, but the fact
that they've been back to search the home invoicing gardens does imply that they are
perhaps looking closer to home for the answers. Nicola's disappearance has been hard on
her entire family, and particularly her two children that were left behind in the
aftermath of it. They deserve answers and some closure too. They were only
young when their mum disappeared and this must have had a huge effect on their
lives. In twenty ten, Nicola's mum, Janet, spoke to the press
about her daughter's disappearance and said, it's disappointing that we still haven't got an
answer about what happened or any closure, and please the police did what they
did, at least they were trying to help. I was holding out hope
we might get some sort of answer after all this time. This sadly hasn't
been the case. Over twelve years later and her family still wait for answers
as to what happened to Nicola. It seems to me to be one of
those cases where unless someone comes forward or police find new evidence, it will
remain a mystery. Nicola needs to be found and her story told. So
if you know anything about the disappearance of Nicola Ray in May two thousand,
then please contact Essex Police on one oh one or through their website. I
will leave the link in the show notes. Thank you for listening to today's
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As always, I'm Caprice and this has been unseen