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 five of our twelve days of missing person
Speaker 1: cases in December. We're looking into the disappearance of Andrew
Speaker 1: Dill from Birmingham in two thousand and three. His mum
Speaker 1: has been appealing since he went missing to find any
Speaker 1: information about where he is. This episode is about a
Speaker 1: missing person and does not contain any descriptions of violence. However,
Speaker 1: listener discretion is always advised. On the evening of the
Speaker 1: twenty eighth of April two thousand and three, thirty eight
Speaker 1: year old Andrew Dill got onto a train going into
Speaker 1: Birmingham City Center. He got on the train at Hennesford.
Speaker 1: Hennisford is a market town which is located in Cannock
Speaker 1: Chase in Staffordshire, is around sixteen miles north of Birmingham.
Speaker 1: This train journey in the evening may have taken between
Speaker 1: forty minutes and an hour, depending on whether Andrew had
Speaker 1: to change at another station. It wasn't a tricky journey
Speaker 1: to navigate and not one that should have caused him
Speaker 1: any problems. This journey into the city center therefore, was
Speaker 1: completely normal for him. Andrew is a father of three
Speaker 1: and someone who was very close to his family, and
Speaker 1: so they expected that he would be in contact as
Speaker 1: he usually was. They received a few texts from him
Speaker 1: and the days and weeks that followed. However, on May
Speaker 1: the twentieth, he stopped contacting them altogether. Sporadic contact could
Speaker 1: have been explained, but no contact was completely out of character.
Speaker 1: His family and friends were soon worried about him when
Speaker 1: they couldn't speak to him or find out where he was.
Speaker 1: They couldn't understand why Andrew would just stop contact altogether,
Speaker 1: and they were that worried that they contacted West Midland's
Speaker 1: police to report him missing. By the time that his
Speaker 1: family had realized that something was wrong, around a month
Speaker 1: had passed and police had a backtrack to find out
Speaker 1: where Andrew had been after he'd arrived at Birmingham New
Speaker 1: Street station on the twenty eighth of April. Through investigation,
Speaker 1: they were able to find a witness who reported seeing
Speaker 1: Andrew on Soho Road in the Hockley area of the
Speaker 1: city the day after he got off the train. Today,
Speaker 1: so Ho Road is a diverse community with many locally
Speaker 1: owned businesses, but it's had its fair share of difficulties.
Speaker 1: It has often been named as the red light district
Speaker 1: of the city and an area where crime is quite
Speaker 1: prevalent in two thousand and three, though I'm unsure if
Speaker 1: this was the case or whether this description may not
Speaker 1: have been as accurate. Regardless, it was thought that this
Speaker 1: is where Andrew was spotted. This, however, was not the
Speaker 1: last contact with Andrew that anyone had. Andrew's family reported
Speaker 1: receiving texts from him in the weeks up until the
Speaker 1: twentieth of May. Where was Andrew during this time? Was
Speaker 1: he still in Birmingham, and if so, where was he now?
Speaker 1: His text contact did not match with the fact that
Speaker 1: nobody had reported seeing him in person or speaking to
Speaker 1: him on a phone call during this time. Police were
Speaker 1: very interested in finding out where Andrew's phone was. They
Speaker 1: put out a description of the phone in the hope
Speaker 1: that they may be able to track it down. Police
Speaker 1: were working under two possible theories about this. Andrew had
Speaker 1: had the phone with him after April twenty eighth until
Speaker 1: May the twentieth, and that something had happened after that point.
Speaker 1: The other theory, which the police appeared to think may
Speaker 1: have been likely was that someone else had possessed of
Speaker 1: Andrew's phone after this point and it was not him
Speaker 1: communicating with his family. This of course adds a more
Speaker 1: sinister element to the case, and it meant that someone
Speaker 1: was purposely impersonating Andrew, and this could have meant that
Speaker 1: he had met with foul play. The Tettor Inspector Rachel
Speaker 1: Allen from the Forces Locate Team said, we have conducted
Speaker 1: extensive inquiries into Andrew's disappearance, but we are still no
Speaker 1: closer to finding out what happened to him. We know
Speaker 1: he owned a light blue Nokia thirty three to ten
Speaker 1: mobile phone with dark blue trim and an Orange network logo.
Speaker 1: This could have been in the possession of someone else
Speaker 1: after twenty eighth of April two thousand and three, so
Speaker 1: I would like to hear from anyone who knows anything
Speaker 1: about that. Police issued a description of the phone and
Speaker 1: a picture of what it might have looked like. This,
Speaker 1: it was hoped, would drum up some new leads from
Speaker 1: people who may have seen someone with that phone or
Speaker 1: know anything about the text that were sent from it
Speaker 1: after April or twenty eighth. Police also appealed for anyone
Speaker 1: with information however small, to come forward to help both
Speaker 1: them and Andrew's family. They said, we also appeal for
Speaker 1: anyone with any information at all to come forward, no
Speaker 1: matter how insignificant it may seem, it could still add
Speaker 1: to a bigger picture. Andrew's family, his parents and his
Speaker 1: children would love to be reunited with him. Not knowing
Speaker 1: what happened to him is almost unbearable. Andrew's mum, Maizie,
Speaker 1: has been dedicated to appealing and campaigning in her son's
Speaker 1: case and from the outset has been determined that he
Speaker 1: has not been forgotten. She has spoken to the press
Speaker 1: and work with police to try and locate any information
Speaker 1: or evidence. She has been handing out leathlets about Andrew
Speaker 1: and visiting bir Mingham New Street train station in the
Speaker 1: hope that someone remembers something about him. Twenty twenty three
Speaker 1: marked twenty years since Andrew disappeared, and she has not
Speaker 1: given up hope that he might be found. She stated,
Speaker 1: we have had so many family milestones and events that
Speaker 1: Andrew has missed, and his absence is always in the
Speaker 1: back of our minds. I would just like to see
Speaker 1: him once more before I go. She also echoed this sentiment,
Speaker 1: saying We miss him every Birthday and Christmas, and especially
Speaker 1: now on the anniversary of his disappearance. We will be
Speaker 1: so pleased to see him back with his family. He
Speaker 1: is well missed and so well loved as well. It's
Speaker 1: clear that while there is a lack of evidence and
Speaker 1: information about where Andrew is and what happened to him,
Speaker 1: he has not been forgotten by West Midland's police and
Speaker 1: especially by his family. There is still the lead of
Speaker 1: Andrew's phone and the fact that someone may have been
Speaker 1: in person in him in the weeks after his disappearance.
Speaker 1: This indicates that whoever this person was knew that he
Speaker 1: would be missed and had the foresight to get ahead
Speaker 1: of these issues. If Andrew has met with foul play,
Speaker 1: why and what exactly happened. The most important thing that
Speaker 1: his family want to know is where is he? Someone
Speaker 1: out there must know what happened to Andrew or spoke
Speaker 1: to someone who does. Do you have information about the
Speaker 1: disappearance of Andrew Dill in two thousand and three His
Speaker 1: family deserved to know. Contact police via the live chat
Speaker 1: on the force's website. To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers
Speaker 1: on eight hundred five five five one one one quoting
Speaker 1: log one three zero two of thirteen slash bore. All
Speaker 1: the information will be in the show notes. Thank you
Speaker 1: for listening to today's episode. Listening in a few days
Speaker 1: today six, where we'll cover another missing or unidentified person case.
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Speaker 1: and this has been unseen b