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 three of twelve days of missing person
Speaker 1: episodes throughout December. Today we're going to be exploring the
Speaker 1: disappearance of sixty four year old Patricia Finney in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 1: Her disappearance was both suspicious and out of character, and
Speaker 1: her family and friends have been hoping for answers ever since.
Speaker 1: This episode is about a missing person and so does
Speaker 1: not contain any descriptions of violence, but listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 1: South End on Sea is a seaside city located in
Speaker 1: the County of Essex in southeast England. It's long been
Speaker 1: known for its status as holiday destination, going back as
Speaker 1: far as Victorian times, when people used to travel for
Speaker 1: its seaside views and to see the world's longest pleasure peer.
Speaker 1: Since that time, however, South End on Sea has changed
Speaker 1: and grown, with many of the older buildings being redeveloped,
Speaker 1: and it gained its city status in twenty twenty two.
Speaker 1: In twenty seventeen, Patricia Finney was both a mother and
Speaker 1: a grandmother living in South End on Sea. By all accounts.
Speaker 1: Patricia was a beloved member of her family who enjoyed
Speaker 1: spending time with both them and her friends. On the
Speaker 1: eleventh of May twenty seventeen, Patricia had been out in
Speaker 1: the morning to see a friend who lived on Riviera
Speaker 1: Drive in the city. Riviera Drive is a mostly residential
Speaker 1: street made up of semi detached houses along one side.
Speaker 1: South End East train station is located on Riviera Drive,
Speaker 1: facing several of these houses. After visiting her friend, it
Speaker 1: was then known that Patricia had been sighted in the
Speaker 1: Bellevue area of the city. This is not far at
Speaker 1: all from Riviera Drive where she'd been visiting her friend.
Speaker 1: In fact, the area is only around a seven minute walk.
Speaker 1: If that this was the last time that Patricia has
Speaker 1: officially been sighted after this point in May twenty seventeen,
Speaker 1: Patricia has not been located and she has not contacted
Speaker 1: her family. Her disappearance was very quickly noticed by her
Speaker 1: family and friends, and the police were involved with the
Speaker 1: missing person investigation from early on. It was not Patricia's
Speaker 1: normal behavior to just leave without contacting anyone, and it
Speaker 1: wasn't usual for her. Therefore, police did start an investigation
Speaker 1: straight away. It was hope that as it was known
Speaker 1: where Patricia had been at around that time, that they
Speaker 1: would be able to trace her movements or at least
Speaker 1: find someone who might have seen her. Police began putting
Speaker 1: out media appeals to try and locate Patricia, as well
Speaker 1: as carrying out house to house inquiries in the area
Speaker 1: where she was known to have visited that morning. As
Speaker 1: well as this, they trawled through hours and hours of
Speaker 1: CCTV footage in these areas to try and find her
Speaker 1: image amongst the many people who had been there that day.
Speaker 1: They also knew that Patricia could have got around using
Speaker 1: public transport. There was the train station along the route
Speaker 1: that she may have taken, as well as many different
Speaker 1: bus routes in the city. It reported that police works
Speaker 1: with bus and rail companies to try and locate Patricia
Speaker 1: or any sign that she had used public transport that day.
Speaker 1: It seemed that all of these lines of inquiry did
Speaker 1: not track Patricia down, or if they did, narrow down
Speaker 1: any route she'd taken. These have not been published in
Speaker 1: the media. A description of Patricia was created. She was
Speaker 1: described as white, five feet six inches tall, of a
Speaker 1: medium build, with straight auburn or gray hair. Her disappearance
Speaker 1: was very strange from the outset, given that there appeared
Speaker 1: to be no reason why Patricia would have just vanished,
Speaker 1: and as the days and weeks passed, it became even
Speaker 1: more suspicious to those that knew her. Where could she
Speaker 1: have gone and why was she missing? As the time
Speaker 1: ticked by, it became all the more worrying for those
Speaker 1: that knew her, and police became increasingly eager to track
Speaker 1: her down. Despite extensive searches for her and appeals to
Speaker 1: the public for information, there was little found out about
Speaker 1: her whereabouts or her movements. Since the eleventh of May
Speaker 1: twenty seventeen, she had not been in contact with anyone
Speaker 1: or turned up in any other location. Two years passed
Speaker 1: before there were any more developments in Patricia's missing person case.
Speaker 1: In twenty nineteen, it was reported that a sighting of
Speaker 1: her had come in. The witness stated that they had
Speaker 1: seen Patricia near the drawbridge in Lower Staft in Suffolk.
Speaker 1: Suffolk is a neighboring county of Essex, and the sighting
Speaker 1: had taken place at around one pm on Sunday, February third,
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. Why Patricia would have been in Lower Staft
Speaker 1: is unclear and if it was her, what had she
Speaker 1: been doing for the time since she had been missing.
Speaker 1: There has been no update on this sighting. As Patricia
Speaker 1: is still missing, this sighting must not have been corroborated.
Speaker 1: It did, however, push Patricia's case back into the headlines,
Speaker 1: which is always helpful. In twenty twenty three, a very
Speaker 1: large update was issued in Patricia's case. It was reported
Speaker 1: that a man had been arrested on suspicion of her murder.
Speaker 1: This man was in his seventies at the time of
Speaker 1: the arrest, with police explaining that inquiries were still ongoing.
Speaker 1: This man was later released on bail and it does
Speaker 1: not appear as of December twenty twenty four that any
Speaker 1: charges have been brought against this suspect. It was reported
Speaker 1: that the time of the arrest, police began searching two
Speaker 1: specific areas in relation to Patricia's disappearance. The area of
Speaker 1: Hockley Woods, around seven miles from Southend on Sea, was
Speaker 1: searched thoroughly by police. This search lasted several days. Detective
Speaker 1: Superintendent Rob Kirby said this was painstaking work and we
Speaker 1: recovered a number of items and work remains ongoing to
Speaker 1: ascertain if they are linked to Patricia's disappearance. Our investigation
Speaker 1: into what happened to Patricia is continuing and I still
Speaker 1: need anyone who has information to contact us. A house
Speaker 1: in the area of Shubury was also searched by police
Speaker 1: in relation to the investigation. A house in Lynnark Close
Speaker 1: was attended by a forensic team. There was clearly reason
Speaker 1: to believe that this house had a connection to Patricia's disappearance. However,
Speaker 1: what this was has not been released. Essex Police have
Speaker 1: since been clear about what they believe has happened to Patricia.
Speaker 1: Detective Superintendent Rob Kirby, head of Major Crime, said Patricia
Speaker 1: is a mother and a grandmother and her disappearances had
Speaker 1: a really big impact on her family. They understandably have
Speaker 1: questions about what's happened to her and we're committed to
Speaker 1: doing everything we can to provide them with answers. There
Speaker 1: is a team of dedicated detectives and staff working hard
Speaker 1: to establish what happened to Patricia and bring those responsible
Speaker 1: to justice. Patricia disappeared on the eleventh of May twenty
Speaker 1: seventeen and has been seen or heard from since. Her
Speaker 1: disappearance has been reviewed by specialist detectives. As a result
Speaker 1: of that review, they have concluded that Patricia is no
Speaker 1: longer alive and her death is being treated as a homicide.
Speaker 1: It's evident that this conclusion is due to the fact
Speaker 1: that Patricia has not been seen and has not contacted
Speaker 1: anyone since she disappeared, and clearly a result of their
Speaker 1: own investigation that they believe that something happened to Patricia
Speaker 1: on the eleventh of May when she left her friend's
Speaker 1: home on rivere A Drive. What that is and how
Speaker 1: the suspect who was arrested was connected to this is
Speaker 1: currently unknown. From the reports that I have read, Essex
Speaker 1: Police seem to be dedicated to trying to get answers
Speaker 1: for Patricia's family and have continued to look into all
Speaker 1: lines of inquiry as well as follow up on any
Speaker 1: leads that come in. They have continually appealed for information
Speaker 1: and want anyone to come forward who feel that they
Speaker 1: may know something about Trisha Finney's disappearance. If you do
Speaker 1: know anything at all, then please use that online portal
Speaker 1: which was set up using the link in the show notes,
Speaker 1: or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on five five five one one
Speaker 1: one Patricia's family and friends deserve to know where she is,
Speaker 1: and any tiny bit of information may help. Thank you
Speaker 1: for listening to today's episode. Listening in a few days
Speaker 1: today four, where we'll cover another missing or unidentified person case.
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Speaker 1: this has been unseen