Speaker 1: Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast
Speaker 1: dedicated to missing people, unresolved cases, and UK true crime.
Speaker 1: Today's day nine of twelve days of missing person episodes
Speaker 1: throughout December, and I'm going to be covering a case
Speaker 1: that I recently covered on a Patreon bonus episode. I
Speaker 1: don't like putting missing person episodes behind a paywall forever,
Speaker 1: as they need to be heard by everyone, so I
Speaker 1: thought this case is perfect for twelve days of missing
Speaker 1: people in December. Today we're going to be exploring the
Speaker 1: disappearance of twenty seven year old Anthony Stammers in Colchester
Speaker 1: in twenty twelve. His disappearance came out of the blue
Speaker 1: for his family, who have been searching for him ever since,
Speaker 1: and their work to support other families of the missing
Speaker 1: has been a lifeline for some. This episode is about
Speaker 1: a missing person and so does not contain any descriptions
Speaker 1: of violence, but listener discretion is always advised. Twenty seven
Speaker 1: year old Anthony Stammers has been described by his family
Speaker 1: as completely unique and someone who led his life the
Speaker 1: way that he wanted to live it. His brother has
Speaker 1: described him as living his life by his own sheet
Speaker 1: of music and was very respected for it. Antony had
Speaker 1: an eclectic taste in both film and music, and was
Speaker 1: known as a talented musician. He was in a band
Speaker 1: which had played concerts in aid of Amnesty International. He
Speaker 1: enjoyed reading, writing, and was sensitive. He loved to help
Speaker 1: others and cared about others immensely. He had grown up
Speaker 1: in Colchester with his older sister Kathy and brother James,
Speaker 1: as well as his mum Julie and his dad Rob.
Speaker 1: Anthony was close to his family and his siblings, with
Speaker 1: his sister being described as a mini mother to him.
Speaker 1: He was well liked, had a great sense of humor,
Speaker 1: and was known to be easy going. His family knew
Speaker 1: him to be a fun but responsible person who they
Speaker 1: loved to be around. During May twenty twelve, the family
Speaker 1: were going through some turmoil and grief. Antony's grandfather had
Speaker 1: sadly passed away and the funeral had been arranged for Monday,
Speaker 1: May the twenty eighth, twenty twelve at Colchester Crematorium. The
Speaker 1: date had been set and the family were prepared to
Speaker 1: attend That Monday morning, Antony told his mum Julie that
Speaker 1: he was going to spend that night in London with friends,
Speaker 1: but would be back in Colchester the next morning ready
Speaker 1: for the funeral. He then left his home in mile
Speaker 1: End Road in Colchester at around ten am on Sunday,
Speaker 1: May the twenty seventh. Reports differ on when Antony next
Speaker 1: contacted his family. However, the Essex Police website states that
Speaker 1: he text his mom at around eleven am, just an
Speaker 1: hour after he left the home. Other sources say seven pm.
Speaker 1: The police source appears to be the most credible, so
Speaker 1: I will go with that one. Anthony texted his mom
Speaker 1: Julie and asked if she would prepare his trousers for
Speaker 1: him ready for the funeral the next day. We do
Speaker 1: know that after leaving his home on mile End Road,
Speaker 1: someone withdrew one hundred and forty pounds from Antony's bank
Speaker 1: account at a nearby petrol station machine. After this, Anthony's
Speaker 1: family believed that he had been on his way to
Speaker 1: visit his friends in London, as he had said that
Speaker 1: he was going to do and that they would see
Speaker 1: him the next day. Monday, May the twenty eighth came
Speaker 1: around and his family waited for him to come home
Speaker 1: to attend the funeral. Antony, however, did not turn up
Speaker 1: to do the family all went to the funeral at
Speaker 1: Colchester Crematorium. However, Antony was not in attendance. The fact
Speaker 1: that he had not come to his granddad's funeral was
Speaker 1: an immediate huge red flag and was something that Antony
Speaker 1: just would not have done. His family were worried from
Speaker 1: the outset, and they decided to immediately file a missing
Speaker 1: person report to Essex Police. He was quickly apparent to
Speaker 1: those that were working on this case that something wasn't right,
Speaker 1: and the sheer fact that Antony hadn't turned up for
Speaker 1: the funeral was an indication that something was wrong. Police
Speaker 1: began looking into Antony's life and his movements to establish
Speaker 1: what could have possibly happened to him and where he
Speaker 1: could be. Police learned that Antony had been treated for
Speaker 1: depression in the past, and while this was the case,
Speaker 1: he was still a responsible person who was close to
Speaker 1: his family and kept in touch with them regularly. The
Speaker 1: fact that he may have been suffering with grief due
Speaker 1: to his grandfather's funeral was of course also taken into
Speaker 1: account and may have been affecting his state of mind
Speaker 1: during that time. Antony was obviously also an adult and
Speaker 1: could choose not to turn up if he didn't want to.
Speaker 1: Despite this, Antony's family and the police agreed that his
Speaker 1: disappearance was out of character. They discovered that after the
Speaker 1: transaction that was made at the cash machine at eleven
Speaker 1: a m they didn't have record of where Antony went
Speaker 1: after that or any of his movements. It would turn
Speaker 1: out that they also did not know if it was
Speaker 1: even Antony that took the money out of the machine.
Speaker 1: They couldn't find any CCTV that would corroborate this transaction
Speaker 1: and so they couldn't see if it was Antony or
Speaker 1: it was someone else using Antony's card. The police have
Speaker 1: since said that they have no reason to believe that
Speaker 1: it was anyone else other than him. The strange thing
Speaker 1: was was that police couldn't actually find Antony on any
Speaker 1: CCTV from the area at all. They weren't able to
Speaker 1: find any images of Antony and Colchester on his journey
Speaker 1: to see his friends in London. Detective Superintendent Stephen Jennings
Speaker 1: from Essex Police stated, we did a lot of work
Speaker 1: around CCTV and surprisingly there wasn't a single image of
Speaker 1: Antony and we trialed hours and hours of footage both
Speaker 1: in and around the Colchester area. It's really difficult to
Speaker 1: know what's actually happened, and we do absolutely keep an
Speaker 1: open mind. Trying to establish where Antony could have gone
Speaker 1: or what could have happened to him was proving extremely difficult.
Speaker 1: Given that there really were no leeds to go on.
Speaker 1: Without CCTV witnesses or any other paper trail, it was
Speaker 1: tough to investigate. Police were able to discover that the
Speaker 1: withdrawal of one hundred and forty pounds was the last
Speaker 1: transaction that was made on Antony's bank account. This in
Speaker 1: itself raised alarm bells as if Antony had decided to
Speaker 1: just walk away from his life, where had he gone
Speaker 1: and what was he living on? A description of him
Speaker 1: was distributed to the public. He was described as white,
Speaker 1: five feet ten inches tall, of medium build, with short,
Speaker 1: dark brown hair, although he may now have longer hair
Speaker 1: or changed its color. He could also now have a beard.
Speaker 1: He was last seen wearing blue jeans, a red and
Speaker 1: blue check shirt, carrying a black satchel, and may have
Speaker 1: been wearing a black New York Yankees baseball cap and
Speaker 1: beige jacket. Antony's family were distraught by the news that
Speaker 1: he had disappeared and the whole family worked together and
Speaker 1: with police to try and locate him. Widespread searches were
Speaker 1: done of the local area and local people were spoken
Speaker 1: to and appeals were made. Despite all of these appeals
Speaker 1: and the search for information, police could not find any
Speaker 1: information about his whereabouts or what had happened. It seemed
Speaker 1: as though Antony had just disappeared into thin air. In
Speaker 1: the months and years that followed his disappearance, his family
Speaker 1: continued to appeal for information and worked with police. However,
Speaker 1: little information about Anthony was reported. There were several potential
Speaker 1: sightings of him over the years. These ranged from sightings
Speaker 1: in Colchester itself, in Staffordshire, Birmingham, Doncaster and London. However,
Speaker 1: it appears that none of these were ever corroborated. Ten
Speaker 1: years after Anthony disappeared, in twenty twenty two, his family
Speaker 1: spoke to the press and the police once again did
Speaker 1: a large appeal for information. His case was featured on
Speaker 1: a Channel five program. Anthony's mum duly stated, every day
Speaker 1: we think about Anthony. There's not a minute that goes
Speaker 1: by we don't think about him and what has happened
Speaker 1: to him. If you have any tiny little bit of
Speaker 1: information that you think is significant, or you know Antony
Speaker 1: and know where he is, please just contact us and help.
Speaker 1: The police will take into account any little piece of
Speaker 1: information and investigate. And to Antony, if he's watching, we
Speaker 1: love you so much and miss you every day. We
Speaker 1: understand it's difficult when you've been away for a long
Speaker 1: while to reconnect again, but we're waiting to welcome you
Speaker 1: back into our lives again, and that's all we want
Speaker 1: to have you back and to give you a great
Speaker 1: big hug. Antony's dad, Rob spoke about feeling like he
Speaker 1: had a duel existence due to Antony's disappearance, saying, on
Speaker 1: the one hand, we know we have to live normal life.
Speaker 1: There are things to do and bills to pay, and
Speaker 1: we have two other children who deserve to live their lives.
Speaker 1: That's are the full And on the other hand, we
Speaker 1: know that Antony is missing and the pain that goes
Speaker 1: alongside that can rear its head at any time. Antony's
Speaker 1: parents wanted to do what they could to help raise
Speaker 1: awareness of Antony's disappearance, but that of all families of
Speaker 1: missing people, they have worked with the charity Missing People,
Speaker 1: as well as his mom and dad and sister Kathy
Speaker 1: taking part in walking five kilometers a day for every
Speaker 1: year that he has been missing. In an effort to
Speaker 1: further raise awareness, Antony's brother James, appeared on Channel four's
Speaker 1: sas Who Dares Wins. He explained, my primary reason for
Speaker 1: going in there was to raise awareness and in the
Speaker 1: hope that someone somewhere knows of his whereabouts lets him know,
Speaker 1: or he may have even find out about me being
Speaker 1: on there and I get to say these things to
Speaker 1: the nation. He's missed, He's loved by everyone that knows him.
Speaker 1: His family have been dedicated to keeping Antony's memory alive,
Speaker 1: but also to support other families of missing people to
Speaker 1: get the support that they need. In June twenty twenty three,
Speaker 1: Antony's parents were present when Missing People opened a new
Speaker 1: garden to represent all of the missing people and their
Speaker 1: families that they supported. Antony's parents stated, I'm so proud
Speaker 1: of what the family and charity members have done in
Speaker 1: creating this garden for everyone. I'm hoping that all the
Speaker 1: families who come, and perhaps people who have gone missing,
Speaker 1: will love it just as much as we do. Everything
Speaker 1: has a meaning in the garden. There is a rocky path,
Speaker 1: water is a place of reflection and the cause of
Speaker 1: the charity, which are black and pink. The darker planting
Speaker 1: reflects the journey we have all been on, and the
Speaker 1: lighter meadow reflects our enjoyment of gardening, which helps people
Speaker 1: with mental health problems. In general. I enjoy gardening and
Speaker 1: so does my husband and daughter. Is give us a
Speaker 1: sense of calm. It's clear that Antony's parents are dedicated
Speaker 1: to finding out what happened to him, and they're hopeful
Speaker 1: that they will find some evidence as to what happened.
Speaker 1: Although twelve years has now passed since his disappearance, there
Speaker 1: is hope that someone out there knows what happened to
Speaker 1: Anthony Stammers on May twenty seventh, twenty twelve, and could
Speaker 1: provide this loving and dedicated family the answers that they
Speaker 1: so desperately need. If you know anything about the disappearance
Speaker 1: of Anthony Stammers, please contact police on one oh one
Speaker 1: our Missing People via their website, which will be linked
Speaker 1: in the show notes. Thank you for listening to November's
Speaker 1: bonus episode and listening for Decembers. As always, thank you
Speaker 1: for all your support. I really appreciate it. I'm Caprice
Speaker 1: and this has been unseen. She F