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<v Speaker 1>Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast

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<v Speaker 1>dedicated to missing people, unresolved cases, and UK true crime.

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<v Speaker 1>Today is day seven of twelve days of missing person

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<v Speaker 1>episodes throughout December. This episode covers the disappearance of Sergic

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<v Speaker 1>core Man in nineteen seventy six. It's remained a mystery

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<v Speaker 1>since it happened. The fact that so much time has

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<v Speaker 1>gone by makes this case more difficult to investigate, however,

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<v Speaker 1>not impossible. Her case has had some fresh publicity this

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<v Speaker 1>year and I believe it to be very important to cover.

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<v Speaker 1>This episode is about a missing person case and so

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<v Speaker 1>does not contain any descriptions of violence. However, listener discretion

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<v Speaker 1>is always advised. The city of Birmingham has historically been

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<v Speaker 1>a hub of migration throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

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<v Speaker 1>due to the Industrial Revolution and the large amount of

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<v Speaker 1>job opportunities that were available during this time. Post war,

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<v Speaker 1>during the nineteen sixties and nineteen seventies, immigration from areas

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<v Speaker 1>which during that time were called the New Commonwealth began

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<v Speaker 1>to increase. This included many people from the Caribbean in Asia,

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<v Speaker 1>namely India and Pakistan. This is reflected within the diverse

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<v Speaker 1>nature of Birmingham today and its heritage in Asian cuisine

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<v Speaker 1>and culture. During the nineteen seventies, Sergik korp Man and

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<v Speaker 1>her family migrated from India to Birmingham for many of

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<v Speaker 1>the reasons that lots of other immigrants had settled there.

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<v Speaker 1>Sergei was a teenager when she arrived in the UK,

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<v Speaker 1>and by all accounts, she was described as an outstanding

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<v Speaker 1>student who gained a place to study maths at Birmingham University.

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<v Speaker 1>She was making fantastic progress with her studies and was

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<v Speaker 1>known to be a very hard worker. She was also

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<v Speaker 1>described as being reserved and sensible. The move to Birmingham

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<v Speaker 1>was certainly something that the family appeared to be benefiting from.

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<v Speaker 1>On September eighteenth, nineteen seventy six, Sergeant made the decision

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<v Speaker 1>to accompany her brother and sister in law on their

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<v Speaker 1>trip to France. They decided to do a road trip

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<v Speaker 1>around the country, and in the days that followed they

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<v Speaker 1>made their way to the south of France. By September

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<v Speaker 1>twenty second, four days into their trip, they made their

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<v Speaker 1>way to a beach. The group were having a fantastic

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<v Speaker 1>time and Sergeant, who was twenty especially enjoyed the experience.

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<v Speaker 1>She reportedly made friends with three women who she met

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<v Speaker 1>on the beach. Serget's brother and sister in law made

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<v Speaker 1>the choice to go home two days later, on the

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<v Speaker 1>twenty fourth of September. When they presented Sergeant with this plan,

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<v Speaker 1>she decided that she didn't want to return home with

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<v Speaker 1>them and that she wanted to stay a bit longer

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<v Speaker 1>to do some sight seeing. She chose to delay her

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<v Speaker 1>return back to the UK until the twenty seventh of September.

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<v Speaker 1>They didn't seem to be anything unusual or odd about

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<v Speaker 1>this request, as Sergeant was twenty years old and a

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<v Speaker 1>university student who wanted to experience the world and visit

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<v Speaker 1>new places. Sergi's brother and sister in law left on

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<v Speaker 1>the twenty fourth as planned and went back to the UK,

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<v Speaker 1>expecting that they would wait for Sergeant when she returned

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<v Speaker 1>on the twenty seventh. The twenty seventh of September arrived,

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<v Speaker 1>but instead of Sergeant back home, the family received something else. Instead.

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<v Speaker 1>It was a phone call. The phone call was made

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<v Speaker 1>by a woman who called herself Jane. This woman gave

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<v Speaker 1>the family some horrific news, told them that Sergeant had

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<v Speaker 1>drowned on a beach and that she wouldn't be coming back.

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<v Speaker 1>This must have been an awful phone call to receive,

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<v Speaker 1>as well as being very confusing. Who was this Jane

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<v Speaker 1>and how did she know that Sergeant had drowned? How

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<v Speaker 1>did she know to contact them? And why had the

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<v Speaker 1>police not spoken to them about this? This would have

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<v Speaker 1>seemed like a random phone call if not for the

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<v Speaker 1>fact that Sergeant hadn't returned when she said she was

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<v Speaker 1>going to, and she did not return in the days,

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<v Speaker 1>months or years after either. It was as though Sergeant

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<v Speaker 1>had disappeared into thin air. A description of Sergeant was

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<v Speaker 1>distributed in the hope that someone would remember her, either

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<v Speaker 1>in France or the UK. She was described as being

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<v Speaker 1>slim build, around five feet one inches tall, with long,

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<v Speaker 1>straight black hair, and she possibly would glasses which were

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<v Speaker 1>silver and hexagonal. She is also believed to have worn

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<v Speaker 1>a stainless steel, multi colored pendant, silver bangle, and wore

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<v Speaker 1>size ten to twelve clothes. At the time in nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>seventy six, tracing people was extremely difficult and investigators seemed

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<v Speaker 1>to do what they could with the information, but they

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<v Speaker 1>were unable to trace whether the phone call to the

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<v Speaker 1>family had been made or who might have made it.

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<v Speaker 1>There seemed to be no trace of Sergeant then or

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<v Speaker 1>during the time after nineteen seventy six. It wasn't until

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<v Speaker 1>twenty twenty three when PC Sean Reeve from West Midlands

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<v Speaker 1>Police opened up Sergeant's unsolved case and began to look

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<v Speaker 1>through it. He was interested in Sergeant's disappearance and decided

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<v Speaker 1>to explore everything that he could with fresh eyes almost

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<v Speaker 1>fifty years after she went missing. He tried to find

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<v Speaker 1>any proof of life for Sergeant, including looking through police records,

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<v Speaker 1>doctors records, hospital admissions and phone book records. They looked

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<v Speaker 1>to see if she had a presence on social media

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<v Speaker 1>and also liaise with the National Crime Agency. PC Reeve

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<v Speaker 1>said anything that anyone could think of in terms of

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<v Speaker 1>proof of life we covered. We've made hundreds of inquiries

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<v Speaker 1>with the hope that she's alive, that she started a

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<v Speaker 1>new life elsewhere. Inquiries have taken us to countries around

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<v Speaker 1>the world. We know she hasn't contacted family since if

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<v Speaker 1>she has passed away, we are very much relying on DNA,

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<v Speaker 1>relying on the body to be recovered, but that hasn't

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<v Speaker 1>been done yet. The other thing that hindered the West

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<v Speaker 1>Midlands Investigation was the fact that the only picture they

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<v Speaker 1>had of Sergeant was a black and white photocopy of her,

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<v Speaker 1>which was such a poor quality that they could barely

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<v Speaker 1>make out any features. In twenty twenty four, pc Reeve

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<v Speaker 1>reached out to Serget's family, her brothers and her nephew,

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<v Speaker 1>who provided him with the clearer image of Sergeant to distribute.

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<v Speaker 1>Pc Reeve said it was terrible quality. It was really

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<v Speaker 1>grainy and looked nothing like her, but it was the

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<v Speaker 1>image we had and there was little we could do

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<v Speaker 1>to retrieve new photos as this was going back to

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<v Speaker 1>the seventies. By putting this enhanced photo out, we're hoping

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<v Speaker 1>someone who recognizes Sergeant will trigger old memories in people

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<v Speaker 1>who knew her. It's clear that pc Reeve feels very

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<v Speaker 1>passionately about Sergeant's case and wants her to be found

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<v Speaker 1>after all these years. He said, Sergeant's case has remained

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<v Speaker 1>unsolved for nearly fifty years. One of my main goals

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<v Speaker 1>is to make as many people aware of it as possible.

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<v Speaker 1>This is one of West Midland Police's longest unsolved cases

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<v Speaker 1>and while we don't know what happened to Sergeant, she

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<v Speaker 1>deserves to have people looking for her. My aim is

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<v Speaker 1>to bring that closure to her remaining family. So much

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<v Speaker 1>time has passed with Sergeant still missing. She would be

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<v Speaker 1>sixty nine years old now if she was still alive,

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<v Speaker 1>and so if she has chosen to make a new

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<v Speaker 1>life for herself, those that knew her may not know

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<v Speaker 1>that she's even missing. She will have changed a lot

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<v Speaker 1>since then. However, someone may recognize some features or some

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<v Speaker 1>aspects of her story. Is there any truth to the

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<v Speaker 1>story that Sergeant drowned on a beach? Or was this

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<v Speaker 1>a hoax call? If it was, why was it made?

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<v Speaker 1>There are so many aspects of the case we don't

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<v Speaker 1>know about, but like PC Reeve, I believe her story

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<v Speaker 1>is so important to be told. If you know anything

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<v Speaker 1>about the disappearance of Sergeic kor Man, please contact the

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<v Speaker 1>Missing People Charity using the link in the show notes,

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<v Speaker 1>or contact the Missing Person's Investigation Unit on zero one

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<v Speaker 1>two one six two six seven zero zero three. Thank

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<v Speaker 1>you for listening to day seven of twelve Days of

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<v Speaker 1>Missing Person episode in December. Stay tuned for day eight

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<v Speaker 1>in a couple of days. If you'd like to support

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<v Speaker 1>the podcast further, then you can on Patreon and contribute

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<v Speaker 1>to exclusive polls to get extra bonus episodes every month.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also get access to new episodes early in

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<v Speaker 1>ad free. You can use the link in the show

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<v Speaker 1>notes to visit Patreon and see what we offer. You

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<v Speaker 1>can also support us by reviewing the podcast wherever you listen,

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<v Speaker 1>including Spotify, and also just share the episodes as our ways.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm Caprice and this has been Unseen eight