WEBVTT

1
00:00:10.599 --> 00:00:13.960
<v Speaker 1>Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast

2
00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:18.519
<v Speaker 1>dedicated to missing people, unresolved cases, and UK true crime.

3
00:00:19.879 --> 00:00:23.239
<v Speaker 1>Today's day four of twelve days of missing person cases

4
00:00:23.280 --> 00:00:27.039
<v Speaker 1>throughout December. We're going to be exploring the nineteen sixty

5
00:00:27.079 --> 00:00:32.600
<v Speaker 1>seven disappearance of nineteen year old Valerie Haycock. Her disappearance

6
00:00:32.600 --> 00:00:34.840
<v Speaker 1>on the way to starting a new job has remained

7
00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:40.359
<v Speaker 1>a mystery for her family for over fifty years. Listener

8
00:00:40.359 --> 00:00:48.479
<v Speaker 1>discretion is always advised. Piddington is a village in south Northamptonshire,

9
00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:53.359
<v Speaker 1>around six miles from Northampton town center. It's a small

10
00:00:53.439 --> 00:00:57.719
<v Speaker 1>village with many facilities being located in nearby village of Hackleton.

11
00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:02.200
<v Speaker 1>Forrest Road runs through the center of the village and

12
00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:05.319
<v Speaker 1>today is made up of terrace and semi detached houses

13
00:01:05.760 --> 00:01:11.319
<v Speaker 1>surrounded by fields and greenery. In nineteen sixty seven, Valerie

14
00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:16.159
<v Speaker 1>Haycock lived on Forest Road with her parents. Valerie was

15
00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:19.000
<v Speaker 1>a friendly and happy person who was popular and was

16
00:01:19.040 --> 00:01:23.920
<v Speaker 1>well loved by her family and friends. Her stepsister Jeanne

17
00:01:23.959 --> 00:01:27.799
<v Speaker 1>would later say Valerie was friendly, she was a bubbly

18
00:01:27.879 --> 00:01:31.879
<v Speaker 1>start of girl. She has been described as the baby

19
00:01:31.920 --> 00:01:34.719
<v Speaker 1>of the family and very much loved and looked after.

20
00:01:36.719 --> 00:01:40.439
<v Speaker 1>In nineteen sixty seven, Valerie was nineteen years old and

21
00:01:40.519 --> 00:01:43.319
<v Speaker 1>had been working at a tie factory close to her home.

22
00:01:45.200 --> 00:01:47.760
<v Speaker 1>Like many people of her age, Valerie was trying to

23
00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:51.200
<v Speaker 1>navigate her way through her teenage years and figure out

24
00:01:51.200 --> 00:01:55.640
<v Speaker 1>what she wanted to do with her life. By July

25
00:01:55.879 --> 00:01:59.000
<v Speaker 1>nineteen sixty seven, Valerie believed that she may have found

26
00:01:59.040 --> 00:02:02.040
<v Speaker 1>a job that she would find rewarding and may kickstart

27
00:02:02.079 --> 00:02:05.959
<v Speaker 1>her career. She told her family that she'd been offered

28
00:02:05.959 --> 00:02:08.199
<v Speaker 1>a job as a nanny on a farm near Luton.

29
00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:13.319
<v Speaker 1>Luton is around thirty six miles from Northampton, and Valerie

30
00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:16.240
<v Speaker 1>was excited about the opportunity of getting a new job

31
00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:22.479
<v Speaker 1>and also to live somewhere other than her hometown. On

32
00:02:22.639 --> 00:02:26.439
<v Speaker 1>July fourteenth, Valerie left her home in Forrest Road and

33
00:02:26.520 --> 00:02:31.159
<v Speaker 1>traveled to nearby Hackleton. Here, her plan was to board

34
00:02:31.159 --> 00:02:34.840
<v Speaker 1>a bus to Newton Pagnell, which is located just outside

35
00:02:34.879 --> 00:02:39.080
<v Speaker 1>of Milton Keynes. Her plan then was to get another

36
00:02:39.120 --> 00:02:44.120
<v Speaker 1>bus which would take her to Luton. Her stepsister, Jeane,

37
00:02:44.159 --> 00:02:46.680
<v Speaker 1>later explained that she was the one who put Valerie

38
00:02:46.719 --> 00:02:49.759
<v Speaker 1>on the bus to Newton Pagnell that day, and that

39
00:02:49.840 --> 00:02:52.520
<v Speaker 1>Valerie had promised to contact them by ringing the phone

40
00:02:52.560 --> 00:02:55.759
<v Speaker 1>box in Piddington the next day to let them know

41
00:02:55.840 --> 00:02:59.800
<v Speaker 1>that she'd got there safely. She left home wearing a

42
00:02:59.840 --> 00:03:03.199
<v Speaker 1>t two piece miniskirt suit and carrying a suitcase with

43
00:03:03.280 --> 00:03:07.479
<v Speaker 1>her belongings in. There was nothing to suggest that there

44
00:03:07.520 --> 00:03:11.039
<v Speaker 1>was anything unusual or strange about Valerie's decision to take

45
00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:14.479
<v Speaker 1>up a job outside of Piddington, as during the nineteen

46
00:03:14.520 --> 00:03:19.520
<v Speaker 1>sixties many people moved around for work and for new careers.

47
00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:24.479
<v Speaker 1>Valerie's parents and family members waited eagerly for her phone

48
00:03:24.479 --> 00:03:26.879
<v Speaker 1>call the next day so that they could hear all

49
00:03:26.919 --> 00:03:29.639
<v Speaker 1>about her journey and what she thought about her new job.

50
00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:33.879
<v Speaker 1>The phone call to the village phone box didn't arrive.

51
00:03:35.199 --> 00:03:38.599
<v Speaker 1>Her parents waited for several hours, perhaps thinking that Valerie

52
00:03:38.599 --> 00:03:42.879
<v Speaker 1>had been delayed or was busy. When Valerie had still

53
00:03:42.919 --> 00:03:46.039
<v Speaker 1>not phoned after hours had passed, her parents were worried

54
00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:49.599
<v Speaker 1>about her and decided to contact police to report her missing.

55
00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:55.400
<v Speaker 1>Northamptonshire Police were now involved with Valerie being reported as

56
00:03:55.439 --> 00:04:01.159
<v Speaker 1>a missing person an investigation and began to try and

57
00:04:01.199 --> 00:04:04.120
<v Speaker 1>locate her, and they did have some leads, given that

58
00:04:04.159 --> 00:04:07.120
<v Speaker 1>they knew whereabouts she'd headed when she left Hackleton on

59
00:04:07.159 --> 00:04:12.000
<v Speaker 1>the bus. It reported that Valerie's family and friends traveled

60
00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.599
<v Speaker 1>down to Luton to try and locate the farm where

61
00:04:14.599 --> 00:04:17.079
<v Speaker 1>she'd been offered the job, but they were unable to

62
00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:21.279
<v Speaker 1>find it. It would later be confirmed that police tracked

63
00:04:21.319 --> 00:04:24.959
<v Speaker 1>down the family in Luton. They explained that they had

64
00:04:25.000 --> 00:04:27.759
<v Speaker 1>indeed offered Valerie a job as a nanny, but that

65
00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:29.959
<v Speaker 1>she had not turned up as she planned to do.

66
00:04:32.120 --> 00:04:35.000
<v Speaker 1>This was confusing for her family, who couldn't understand what

67
00:04:35.040 --> 00:04:40.040
<v Speaker 1>had happened to her after she left Hackleton. Valerie's brother

68
00:04:40.120 --> 00:04:42.800
<v Speaker 1>in law, Clive, later said that he'd been away for

69
00:04:42.839 --> 00:04:45.439
<v Speaker 1>two weeks during the time that Valerie had been missing,

70
00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:47.920
<v Speaker 1>and that when he got back he also tried to

71
00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:51.759
<v Speaker 1>help search for her. He said, I had been on

72
00:04:51.800 --> 00:04:55.079
<v Speaker 1>a fortnight's holiday, so Valerie had been missing quite some

73
00:04:55.240 --> 00:04:59.040
<v Speaker 1>time by the time I heard what happened. I tried

74
00:04:59.040 --> 00:05:01.839
<v Speaker 1>to muster things up, but things seemed to have died down.

75
00:05:03.319 --> 00:05:05.720
<v Speaker 1>Her parents thought she would come back, and the police

76
00:05:05.720 --> 00:05:11.279
<v Speaker 1>didn't think anything had happened to her. This statement indicates

77
00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:14.360
<v Speaker 1>that police perhaps assumed that Valerie may have gone somewhere

78
00:05:14.360 --> 00:05:16.720
<v Speaker 1>of her own accord and had not vanished as a

79
00:05:16.759 --> 00:05:22.199
<v Speaker 1>result of foul play. Valerie's family tried their best to

80
00:05:22.240 --> 00:05:25.480
<v Speaker 1>try and locate any information. However, this proved to be

81
00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:30.439
<v Speaker 1>quite difficult. The Salvation Army became involved in the search,

82
00:05:30.519 --> 00:05:32.560
<v Speaker 1>as at the time they did try to track down

83
00:05:32.560 --> 00:05:37.000
<v Speaker 1>missing people. However, they also couldn't find any trace of Valerie.

84
00:05:38.600 --> 00:05:41.680
<v Speaker 1>Like many missing person cases that we cover, it was

85
00:05:41.720 --> 00:05:47.399
<v Speaker 1>as though she had just vanished. Chief Inspector Dennis Abraham said,

86
00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:49.959
<v Speaker 1>she just seemed to have vanished off the face of

87
00:05:50.000 --> 00:05:53.040
<v Speaker 1>the earth. Her name is still on the police missing

88
00:05:53.079 --> 00:05:56.839
<v Speaker 1>person's list, but there's no information and nothing definite. Since

89
00:05:56.839 --> 00:06:01.879
<v Speaker 1>she first went missing, her family knew her disappearance was

90
00:06:02.000 --> 00:06:06.879
<v Speaker 1>very unlike Valerie. Her sister pat later said there are

91
00:06:06.879 --> 00:06:09.240
<v Speaker 1>an awful lot of people who remember her and would

92
00:06:09.279 --> 00:06:14.120
<v Speaker 1>like to hear from her. Valerie was nineteen. She had boyfriends,

93
00:06:14.199 --> 00:06:17.000
<v Speaker 1>but there was no reason for her to leave. She

94
00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:19.319
<v Speaker 1>was not the sort of girl who would just go off,

95
00:06:19.639 --> 00:06:31.480
<v Speaker 1>which makes it harder. Over the following years, Valerie's missing

96
00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:35.959
<v Speaker 1>person case, while not closed, started to go cold, with

97
00:06:36.040 --> 00:06:41.000
<v Speaker 1>less and less tips coming in. In nineteen ninety four,

98
00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:45.439
<v Speaker 1>almost thirty years after Valerie's disappearance, her name was finally

99
00:06:45.480 --> 00:06:49.720
<v Speaker 1>once again in the headlines, but unfortunately as part of

100
00:06:49.759 --> 00:06:54.639
<v Speaker 1>a tragic story. In nineteen ninety four, the news of

101
00:06:54.680 --> 00:06:58.079
<v Speaker 1>the House of Horrors in Cromwell Street in Gloucester broke

102
00:06:58.399 --> 00:07:02.680
<v Speaker 1>and made headlines around the world world. Fred and Rose

103
00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:07.279
<v Speaker 1>West were arrested and their back garden was excavated. They

104
00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:09.800
<v Speaker 1>would later be convicted of the murders of twelve women

105
00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:13.079
<v Speaker 1>before burying their bodies in the cellar and the back garden.

106
00:07:15.040 --> 00:07:17.680
<v Speaker 1>Valerie's case was brought up in relation to the case

107
00:07:17.759 --> 00:07:20.199
<v Speaker 1>because it was believed that she may fit the profile

108
00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:24.000
<v Speaker 1>of one of their victims. This was due to her

109
00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:26.439
<v Speaker 1>age and the fact that she was traveling from one

110
00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:30.279
<v Speaker 1>place to another. Fred West was known to pick up

111
00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:33.360
<v Speaker 1>young women who were waiting at bus stops or hitchhiking,

112
00:07:34.079 --> 00:07:36.319
<v Speaker 1>and at least one of their victims had been working

113
00:07:36.360 --> 00:07:38.519
<v Speaker 1>as a nanny at the time that she was murdered,

114
00:07:39.319 --> 00:07:41.519
<v Speaker 1>which of course, was the job that Valerie was going

115
00:07:41.600 --> 00:07:45.959
<v Speaker 1>to do. Articles at the time discussed the fact that

116
00:07:46.040 --> 00:07:49.199
<v Speaker 1>Valerie had been missing from Northampton and that Fred West

117
00:07:49.319 --> 00:07:55.519
<v Speaker 1>was known to travel around the country. Valerie's sister Pat stated,

118
00:07:55.720 --> 00:07:58.399
<v Speaker 1>if Rose West had any conscience at all, she would

119
00:07:58.399 --> 00:08:00.439
<v Speaker 1>tell me if Fred had anything to do with my

120
00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:04.240
<v Speaker 1>sister's disappearance. There was no reason for val to get

121
00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:07.000
<v Speaker 1>up and leave. No one has heard a word from

122
00:08:07.000 --> 00:08:10.439
<v Speaker 1>her in twenty eight years. That wouldn't be like her.

123
00:08:11.480 --> 00:08:15.199
<v Speaker 1>We've tried to trace her and found nothing. Over the years,

124
00:08:15.240 --> 00:08:18.199
<v Speaker 1>not hearing from her, we've begun to fear the worst.

125
00:08:19.639 --> 00:08:23.000
<v Speaker 1>VAL's disappearance hit my mother and father very badly. They

126
00:08:23.000 --> 00:08:27.160
<v Speaker 1>were devastated. Val was the baby of the family and

127
00:08:27.199 --> 00:08:30.639
<v Speaker 1>they never really got over it. They went to their

128
00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:35.360
<v Speaker 1>graves without ever knowing what happened. I don't want that

129
00:08:35.399 --> 00:08:38.240
<v Speaker 1>to be the case with me. When I read about

130
00:08:38.240 --> 00:08:40.039
<v Speaker 1>the murders and how some of the girls were picked

131
00:08:40.120 --> 00:08:43.799
<v Speaker 1>up at bus stops, I thought straight away about VAL's disappearance.

132
00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:47.919
<v Speaker 1>If you're still alive, just let us know. Set our

133
00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:53.159
<v Speaker 1>minds at rest. Gorcestershire Police were sent many profiles of

134
00:08:53.200 --> 00:08:56.080
<v Speaker 1>missing people to examine. However, there doesn't seem to be

135
00:08:56.120 --> 00:09:00.240
<v Speaker 1>any evidence that Valerie was a victim of the wests.

136
00:09:01.159 --> 00:09:04.279
<v Speaker 1>During the time that elapsed, Valerie's parents had passed away

137
00:09:04.480 --> 00:09:07.320
<v Speaker 1>without finding out what happened to her or where she went,

138
00:09:07.840 --> 00:09:12.960
<v Speaker 1>and so this must have been devastating for them. In

139
00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:15.559
<v Speaker 1>two thousand and two, the case would finally be given

140
00:09:15.600 --> 00:09:18.840
<v Speaker 1>a lead. A tip off came in from a witness

141
00:09:18.879 --> 00:09:22.159
<v Speaker 1>from Northampton who claimed to have seen Valerie around a

142
00:09:22.159 --> 00:09:26.159
<v Speaker 1>week after she disappeared. He explained that he saw her

143
00:09:26.200 --> 00:09:29.759
<v Speaker 1>in the Britannia Pub on Barrack Road in Northampton, and

144
00:09:29.840 --> 00:09:33.720
<v Speaker 1>she was with two men. Police would later state that

145
00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:35.799
<v Speaker 1>the two men that she had possibly been with were

146
00:09:35.840 --> 00:09:38.480
<v Speaker 1>Irish and that they were employed by the council to

147
00:09:38.559 --> 00:09:42.879
<v Speaker 1>paint road markings. The men lived in a caravan that

148
00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:46.120
<v Speaker 1>they traveled the country with, and Valerie had possibly met

149
00:09:46.159 --> 00:09:50.480
<v Speaker 1>them while frequenting local pubs. It was known that she'd

150
00:09:50.519 --> 00:09:55.799
<v Speaker 1>recently befriended them before she disappeared. It would turn out

151
00:09:55.799 --> 00:09:58.840
<v Speaker 1>that there had been around seven sightings since Valerie disappeared,

152
00:09:59.039 --> 00:10:03.399
<v Speaker 1>and six of these had been an Island. The police

153
00:10:03.399 --> 00:10:06.120
<v Speaker 1>had previously had a working theory that Valerie may have

154
00:10:06.200 --> 00:10:09.200
<v Speaker 1>left to live in southern Ireland, and so this witness

155
00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:12.000
<v Speaker 1>putting her with two Irish men a week after she

156
00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:17.480
<v Speaker 1>disappeared certainly was of interest to them. The Irish branch

157
00:10:17.519 --> 00:10:21.519
<v Speaker 1>of Interpol took over investigations in Ireland looking into Valeriees

158
00:10:21.600 --> 00:10:27.000
<v Speaker 1>possible whereabouts. In two thousand and three, photographs of Valerie

159
00:10:27.120 --> 00:10:30.879
<v Speaker 1>once again distributed to the public in the hope that

160
00:10:30.919 --> 00:10:33.759
<v Speaker 1>they would jog someone's memory or they would recognize her

161
00:10:33.840 --> 00:10:37.559
<v Speaker 1>as someone that they knew. A black and white photograph

162
00:10:37.559 --> 00:10:40.639
<v Speaker 1>of Valerie as a teenager was posted in seven London

163
00:10:40.679 --> 00:10:44.799
<v Speaker 1>train stations to further get her image and information out

164
00:10:44.879 --> 00:10:50.120
<v Speaker 1>to more people. Another theory that has been put forward

165
00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:52.879
<v Speaker 1>for why Valerie may have disappeared was that perhaps she

166
00:10:53.000 --> 00:10:57.000
<v Speaker 1>was pregnant before she vanished. At the time in the

167
00:10:57.080 --> 00:10:59.679
<v Speaker 1>nineteen sixties, this would have been very difficult for a

168
00:10:59.679 --> 00:11:02.840
<v Speaker 1>young single woman, and the stigma that was attached to

169
00:11:02.879 --> 00:11:05.120
<v Speaker 1>it may have meant that she thought it was easier

170
00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:09.960
<v Speaker 1>to leave her life behind. Her family have considered this

171
00:11:10.039 --> 00:11:14.960
<v Speaker 1>as a theory. Her stepsister Jeanne said, I said to

172
00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:17.440
<v Speaker 1>my stepdad after Valerie had gone that she could have

173
00:11:17.480 --> 00:11:20.840
<v Speaker 1>been pregnant. He said she could have brought the baby home.

174
00:11:21.159 --> 00:11:26.000
<v Speaker 1>That wouldn't have been a problem. While this was a possibility,

175
00:11:26.120 --> 00:11:31.200
<v Speaker 1>of course, there's little evidence to confirm it. In Valerie's case,

176
00:11:31.240 --> 00:11:33.639
<v Speaker 1>there is very little evidence to go on aside from

177
00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:38.000
<v Speaker 1>possible sightings in Ireland. She left with belongings which have

178
00:11:38.080 --> 00:11:42.759
<v Speaker 1>never been found. Records indicate that She's never registered for

179
00:11:42.840 --> 00:11:47.000
<v Speaker 1>tax or insurance, never claimed Social Security, and never applied

180
00:11:47.039 --> 00:11:50.279
<v Speaker 1>for a driving license in her own name. Since she disappeared,

181
00:11:51.799 --> 00:11:55.000
<v Speaker 1>there have never been any official records of Valerie using

182
00:11:55.039 --> 00:11:59.840
<v Speaker 1>her own identity. Has been extremely difficult to track down

183
00:11:59.879 --> 00:12:03.120
<v Speaker 1>information given the time that has passed since nineteen sixty

184
00:12:03.159 --> 00:12:06.399
<v Speaker 1>seven and the fact that the original case file has

185
00:12:06.440 --> 00:12:10.480
<v Speaker 1>been lost, meaning that crucial information may now have been missed.

186
00:12:12.279 --> 00:12:15.200
<v Speaker 1>There is the possibility that Valerie is out there somewhere,

187
00:12:15.320 --> 00:12:18.240
<v Speaker 1>living a new life with a new identity, and that

188
00:12:18.320 --> 00:12:21.720
<v Speaker 1>someone does know where she is. They may not even

189
00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:25.679
<v Speaker 1>know that she was ever missing. We don't know a

190
00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:29.600
<v Speaker 1>lot about her whereabouts. However, by getting her information out there,

191
00:12:29.679 --> 00:12:33.039
<v Speaker 1>we never know what may be uncovered. If you know

192
00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:36.559
<v Speaker 1>anything about the disappearance of Valerie Haycock, please contact Missing

193
00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:39.639
<v Speaker 1>People through her missing person profile in the show notes,

194
00:12:39.919 --> 00:12:44.279
<v Speaker 1>or contact police on one oh one. Thank you for

195
00:12:44.320 --> 00:12:46.759
<v Speaker 1>listening to day four of twelve Days of Missing Person

196
00:12:46.799 --> 00:12:50.279
<v Speaker 1>episodes in December. Stay tuned for Day five in a

197
00:12:50.279 --> 00:12:53.679
<v Speaker 1>couple of days. If you'd like to support the podcast further,

198
00:12:53.720 --> 00:12:56.799
<v Speaker 1>then you can on Patreon and contribute to exclusive polls

199
00:12:56.840 --> 00:13:00.559
<v Speaker 1>to get extra bonus episodes. Every month. Can also get

200
00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:03.759
<v Speaker 1>access to new episodes early in ad free. You can

201
00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:05.840
<v Speaker 1>use the link in the show notes to visit Patreon

202
00:13:05.960 --> 00:13:09.200
<v Speaker 1>and see what we offer. You can also support us

203
00:13:09.200 --> 00:13:12.639
<v Speaker 1>by reviewing the podcast wherever you listen, including Spotify, and

204
00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:17.799
<v Speaker 1>also just share the episodes. As always, I'm Caprice and

205
00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:19.279
<v Speaker 1>this has been unseen