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 is day two of twelve days of missing person
Speaker 1: cases throughout December. In this episode, we're exploring the disappearance
Speaker 1: of twenty two year old Lee Buckle. In nineteen ninety four,
Speaker 1: Lee disappeared in India and since then he has had
Speaker 1: no information about what happened to him, despite huge amounts
Speaker 1: of effort from his family. This episode is about a
Speaker 1: missing person and so does not contain any graphic descriptions,
Speaker 1: but listener discretion is always advised. On October nineteenth, nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety four, John and June Buckle arrived at the airport
Speaker 1: to pick up their twenty two year old son Lee.
Speaker 1: Lee had left for a three month backpacking trip to
Speaker 1: the Kashmere region of India in June that year. Lee
Speaker 1: was very passionate about trekking and hiking, and it was
Speaker 1: something that he had done lots of before. He had
Speaker 1: previously treked in the Atlas Mountains in Africa and was
Speaker 1: therefore well equipped for this backpacking trip to the Himalayas.
Speaker 1: After completing his geology degree at the University of Southampton.
Speaker 1: He was interested in traveling and seeing the world. Lee
Speaker 1: had grown up with his mother June and father John,
Speaker 1: along with his younger brothers Damon and James, in Saint Helen's.
Speaker 1: He had attended Newton High School in Newton Loa, Willows
Speaker 1: before heading off to study further. His love of the
Speaker 1: outdoors and trekking was clear, and it was something that
Speaker 1: he shared with some of his friends. In nineteen ninety four,
Speaker 1: his plan was to trek in the Himalayas and then
Speaker 1: head to Nepal to meet up with friends. His parents
Speaker 1: were confident that Lee knew what he was doing, as
Speaker 1: he had been traveling and trekking before. They later explained
Speaker 1: that while he'd packed light for this trip to India,
Speaker 1: he had taken essentials to keep him safe, like a
Speaker 1: full first aid kit. This made them feel a little
Speaker 1: better about this trip. Lee had set off at the
Speaker 1: end of June nineteen ninety four, and his parents had
Speaker 1: received a letter from him in early July. He had
Speaker 1: told his parents that he couldn't be in touch for
Speaker 1: a while as he was going to start his trek
Speaker 1: and so wouldn't be somewhere that he could be reached.
Speaker 1: Following this letter, His parents hadn't thought much more of it,
Speaker 1: given that they knew that he would not be around
Speaker 1: to send or receive post. They didn't hear from him
Speaker 1: again that summer. However, this did not seem to alarm
Speaker 1: them given the nature of Lee's trip. They did know
Speaker 1: that he would be returning in October for his cousin's wedding,
Speaker 1: and so on October nineteenth, his parents went to the
Speaker 1: airport to pick him up. Lee did not arrive as planned.
Speaker 1: This was the first that his parents knew that there
Speaker 1: was something wrong. They knew that Lee would not just
Speaker 1: have disappeared without telling them or letting them know if
Speaker 1: he'd changed his plans. His mom, June, later said, he
Speaker 1: would have known that we would be worrying about him
Speaker 1: if he didn't return. He would make sure to tell
Speaker 1: us if he'd decided to stay on something is wrong
Speaker 1: and for some reason he can't tell us. The fact
Speaker 1: that Lee just did not return from India was immediately worrying.
Speaker 1: The last contact that they had with him was in July,
Speaker 1: when he'd sent a letter telling them that he was
Speaker 1: about to begin his trek. What had happened since then
Speaker 1: and where was Lee? The whole situation didn't seem right
Speaker 1: to his parents, and they quickly began to try and
Speaker 1: make a plan to figure it out. His family began
Speaker 1: the painstaking process of trying to figure out where Lee
Speaker 1: had been and what could have happened. This was difficult
Speaker 1: from the outset, given the distance from where Lee had
Speaker 1: last been known to be. His family contacted the Foreign
Speaker 1: Office to try and find out as much information as
Speaker 1: they could. It had been three months since they last
Speaker 1: had contact, and so it was hard to imagine what
Speaker 1: could have happened during this time. The family contacted everyone
Speaker 1: that they could think of to help them, including police
Speaker 1: forces in both India as well as the UK, and
Speaker 1: also the Foreign Office, with the hope that they could
Speaker 1: help to further track him down. They knew his general
Speaker 1: direction of travel, but of course, the area of the
Speaker 1: Himalayas is vast. A description of Lee was circulated, as
Speaker 1: well as photographs of him, which were put in the
Speaker 1: area where he'd last been headed. At the time of
Speaker 1: his disappearance. Lee was six feet one inches tall, with
Speaker 1: blue eyes and long, blonde, straight hair. It was hoped
Speaker 1: that someone would recognize this description, corresponding with authorities in
Speaker 1: another country must have been extremely difficult, given the differences
Speaker 1: in procedures and the fact that Lee was an adult
Speaker 1: who is entitled to travel where he likes. The nature
Speaker 1: of Lee's trip also meant that he told his parents
Speaker 1: he would be out of contact for a while. Interpol
Speaker 1: were involved and were liaising with the Indian High Commission.
Speaker 1: They stated that a search was taking place in the
Speaker 1: area and that they were attempting to track him down.
Speaker 1: Lee's family were determined to do what they can to
Speaker 1: locate him and began trying to conduct their own investigation.
Speaker 1: They found two women who had seen Lee in the
Speaker 1: city of Lay before setting off on his trek. He
Speaker 1: had told them that he was going to undertake a
Speaker 1: very difficult trek to the town of Padam. The women
Speaker 1: didn't want to join him on this trek, and Lee
Speaker 1: told them that he would meet back up with them
Speaker 1: in ten days. The women reported that they didn't see
Speaker 1: him again. They were concerned about Lee not turning up
Speaker 1: at the designated checkpoint, and they were worried enough that
Speaker 1: reported his disappearance to authorities. They gave them Lee's route
Speaker 1: and explained where he'd planned to go. When Lee's parents
Speaker 1: spoke to the Indian authorities about this report. They denied
Speaker 1: that the two women had made it. They were upset
Speaker 1: and frustrated by the lack of information that they were
Speaker 1: receiving and the lack of progress being made to find him.
Speaker 1: Thee's dad said at the time, we just don't know
Speaker 1: what to do. Our son is missing and no one
Speaker 1: seems able or willing to help. Not knowing is the
Speaker 1: awful thing. When Mark Thatcher, Margaret Thatcher's son went missing,
Speaker 1: all the stops were pulled out to find him. Why
Speaker 1: is our son still missing? We feel that we just
Speaker 1: can't get anyone to take notice. From what we can gather,
Speaker 1: there wasn't even a search Fulee, despite the fact that
Speaker 1: two people raised the alarm with the authorities when he
Speaker 1: failed to reach his destination. We want the Foreign Office
Speaker 1: to act and help end our frustration and heartache. The
Speaker 1: weather in that region began to take a turn and
Speaker 1: the investigation was hampered by blizzards. A spokesman from the
Speaker 1: Foreign Office made a statement about the investigation. A search
Speaker 1: has been continuing for some time now. This is a
Speaker 1: very different situation, a wide area and the snows are
Speaker 1: coming in. We have asked for the new Delhi Offices
Speaker 1: for a full report about the situation and expect to
Speaker 1: have that next week. The snow in the region did
Speaker 1: hinder the investigation for a while until July nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 1: The next year, it was reported that a new search
Speaker 1: for him was planned now that the snow began to thaw. Sadly,
Speaker 1: this search did not turn up any new information, and
Speaker 1: time passed for Lee's family with no answers. In two
Speaker 1: thousand and nine, the family made an appeal on the
Speaker 1: fifteenth anniversary of his disappearance. They had lived for over
Speaker 1: a decade without any answers as to what happened to him.
Speaker 1: John and June Buckle explained the Foreign Office told us
Speaker 1: that someone thought they'd seen him three years ago, and
Speaker 1: that spicked it all off again. I love to find
Speaker 1: out anything about Lee, whatever that might be. I'm appealing
Speaker 1: to everyone who's been traveling in India or are going
Speaker 1: to go out to look for him and let us
Speaker 1: know if you think you may have spotted him. We
Speaker 1: try to carry on, but when the four of us
Speaker 1: get together, it's obvious someone is missing, and it's especially
Speaker 1: hard at this time of year. Whether it's good or bad,
Speaker 1: we just want some news of our son this Christmas.
Speaker 1: John also added, we just need closure because the difficult
Speaker 1: thing for us is that there's just no end to it.
Speaker 1: We hadn't had any reason to worry, as he had
Speaker 1: been writing to us. The last contact we had from
Speaker 1: him was in the July. He told us he couldn't
Speaker 1: get in contact for a while as he was going
Speaker 1: to be doing a trek. The last thing I said
Speaker 1: to him was don't go anywhere difficult on your own,
Speaker 1: but sadly that's what he did. We know that the
Speaker 1: likelihood is he isn't alive, missing at a time when
Speaker 1: a lot of people were being kidnapped in the region,
Speaker 1: but a body has never been found, so we live
Speaker 1: in hope. Since this time, there has been little information
Speaker 1: published about Lee's disappearance, and I can't imagine how hard
Speaker 1: that must be for his family. Lee seems to have
Speaker 1: disappeared without a trace, and from what I can gather,
Speaker 1: no trace of him or his possessions have ever been recovered.
Speaker 1: Lee is listed as a missing person on the Missing
Speaker 1: People database, and it's crucial that his disappearance remains in
Speaker 1: the public consciousness despite the time that has elapsed and
Speaker 1: his disappearance so far from home, there is always hope
Speaker 1: that someone will remember something or remember being there during
Speaker 1: that time. I will link Lee's Missing People profile in
Speaker 1: the show notes. Thank you for listening to day two
Speaker 1: of twelve Days of Missing Person episodes in December. Stay
Speaker 1: tuned for Day three in a couple of days. If
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Speaker 1: I'm Caprice and this has been unseen