New Richey info?

[Little Troll]

who's responsible?, wow, thanks for sharing that.
If you don't mind me asking, were you using the same name? If so, you'd have thought it'd have been easy for the police to track you down when you went missing!

I don't really believe that it was Richey in this story. It just doesn't seem plausible that he'd be letting people know that it was him. And how would he get to America? He didn't have his passport and no visa etc so it'd have been hard enough to get into America in the first place, let alone for him to come back to visit Devon without getting caught out!

[amnesic]

I believe there is some research indicating that typically those who go intentionally missing, are later found, tend to move within about 20 miles of their previous home. I don't think tht the police look that hard. As long as there isn't a fear that the person is going to do harm to themselves or others there is not much they can do

[yanushka]

Originally Posted by who's responsible?

This is annoying me now -
In my experience missing people don't go around saying "I'm missing don't tell anyone". The source for my experience? Me. I went missing. To cut a long story short I had a lot of issues, masses of self-loathing and hate and convinced myself that everyone would be better off without me. So I fucked off. After doing so I managed to sort myself out and start a new life and was completely convinced that everyone was happier without me around. I was officially missing for four years. I never told a soul. I had made new friends, relationships, work, home, everything. I had started again. I never told anyone. So much so that when my case was shown on the TV Missing programme several people I worked with rang up and told them where I was. I didn't even know I'd been reported missing, I just assumed no one would bother looking for me. I assumed they didn't want me around. The first I knew was when my phone rang.
If you're in such a desperate state as to vanish off the face of the earth, you DON'T TELL ANYONE.
You push all your past behind you and hope it never comes back, because "they are all better off with you not around". It took that "being found out" moment to make me realise that I was wrong. They did actually give a shit. It took all of 30 seconds from that moment to make me pick up the phone.
I'm lucky that I got the chance to put things right, though the guilt of how much hurt I caused through my utter fucking selfishness is still hard to deal with even now. I made a mistake, a four year long mistake, but the fact remains that I never told anyone, let alone a random stranger at a meeting.

Thanks for the story, it's really moving. Hope you are fine now.

[bleeding pepper]

Originally Posted by JamesyEsquire

Was Richeys passport missing? if not, how did he get to america with no passport?

I recall reading that at the time in 1995 you could easily get a one-year passport with minimal supporting documentation. Not sure how true this is as I was only 11 at the time and know nothing about this sort of thing.

[yanushka]

Originally Posted by bleeding pepper

I recall reading that at the time in 1995 you could easily get a one-year passport with minimal supporting documentation. Not sure how true this is as I was only 11 at the time and know nothing about this sort of thing.

And what would happen when the passport expired? I'm not saying that you know, I'm just curious.

[bleeding pepper]

Originally Posted by yanushka

And what would happen when the passport expired? I'm not saying that you know, I'm just curious.

No idea. I wonder if it's possible to have used an expired one-year passport to apply for a full 10 year one at a later date - in relation to Richey this could have been in 1996. Either way it would have been enough to get a person out of the country - possibly to the US under a work Visa and then the person could disappear again - maybe US Visa requirements were more lax back then seeing as it was pre-9/11. Again, I don't know how Visas work in relation to passports and staying in foreign countries so I'm just thinking aloud more than anything.

[Takk]

Originally Posted by bleeding pepper

No idea. I wonder if it's possible to have used an expired one-year passport to apply for a full 10 year one at a later date - in relation to Richey this could have been in 1996. Either way it would have been enough to get a person out of the country - possibly to the US under a work Visa and then the person could disappear again - maybe US Visa requirements were more lax back then seeing as it was pre-9/11. Again, I don't know how Visas work in relation to passports and staying in foreign countries so I'm just thinking aloud more than anything.

You have to get a work visa before you enter the country, most likely at the US embassy in london - i think that was the case then, and you would need a certain amount of time on a passport - I doubt you could use a short term passport. Also, it's not that easy to just get a work visa for the us, he'd probably have to show he had marketable skills or have a job offer.

[Aestivate]

Originally Posted by who's responsible?

Happy ending really -

The Missing programme went out in November 98, a handful of people I worked with saw it (by that time I was only about 20 miles away from my "previous world") and rang the missing persons line.

Cheers. And you were only 20 miles away and the police couldn't find you. If you're not a threat to the public then they don't throw much resource at finding you. It makes it plausible that Richard could have gone missing. But it never sat easy with me that he left his car at the Severn Bridge. That leads to a sad conclusion. Car left outside his flat or backstreets of Cardiff would have been a more optimistic place.

[Littlesue]

If I remember rightly you could only use one of those one year passports within
Europe.

[mar]

Yes, don't know why US seems the only option. He had a lot of places to go in Europe.

[amnesic]

Catalonia?

[mar]

Shh... big brother is watching!

[who's responsible?]

Originally Posted by Aestivate

Cheers. And you were only 20 miles away and the police couldn't find you. If you're not a threat to the public then they don't throw much resource at finding you. It makes it plausible that Richard could have gone missing. But it never sat easy with me that he left his car at the Severn Bridge. That leads to a sad conclusion. Car left outside his flat or backstreets of Cardiff would have been a more optimistic place.

I'll try and cover as many questions in one post as possible, hope that's ok.

Well, originally I was around 60 miles away, during the following years I moved for work. I'd have to disagree on the car thing - I left mine at the flat I left. You can't disappear and keep your car. It's registered to you and in order to keep it taxed you need to pass on your new address and I'm guessing the police would check DVLA. If you don't it's a matter of a year at the most before your tax disc expires. The police don't notice taxed cars, they do notice un-taxed ones. All it takes is to spot the disc, run a check and ooh look this guy is missing. The police don't try too hard if you aren't considered a threat or have no criminal record. The car was (in my mind) a very easy way to get found. During the whole four years I didn't drive or change my driving licence address.

The withdrawing money thing Richey did was also a sign that he wasn't planning a quick suicide in my opinion as well, I did something similar in the weeks leading up to my legging it, although I didn't withdraw cash, I emptied my account with a week to go, putting it all in un-signed Amex travellers cheques (again I don't think this is possible today). To cash them all I needed to go into any travel agent/post office and say they were left over from holiday.

Why did Richey leave the car at Aust if he wasn't planning on jumping off the bridge? Who knows? If you have no clear plan of where you're going to go, and lets say a pocket full of cash and a one year visitors' passport which you could pick up at any post office, a service station is a good place to start. Just stand there with your thumb out and get in the first lift you're offered. Once you're off the map it would be easy to get a train to Dover from anywhere in the UK, hop on a ferry and you're away.

Magical Bertie - yes I was living under my own name throughout, working under my own NI number, but NOT on the electoral roll. I figured that trying to assume a fake identity would be too tricky and if anything be more likely to attract attention. If you're working and paying your rent and bills, people leave you in peace. For the first year or so I did have a bag under my bed with stuff in it in case I was found, but after then I came to the conclusion that I'd been right all along, and that no one was looking for me.
I think the part which I still find hardest to reconcile with is that I always thought that my girlfriend at the time I disappeared didn't really care, and that she just thought of me as this weird bloke who'd do until something better came along -her words at the time - I got her so wrong. My mum told me that she kept looking for me for two years, heading off all over the place to try to find me, but after that she decided that I was dead, so stopped. She apparently got married and moved back to her hometown. She's the only one I have never had the chance to apologise to, ironically I can't find her to say how sorry I am for putting her through all that.

[mar]

Totally agree with you WR, never understood why people find this so hard to believe and see suicide as a more plausible answer. He left the car there because it was in the middle of police jurisdictions which meant the investigation and files would be divided and everything will be slower. And it was. Half of Richey police files are in London, the rest in Cardiff.

[who's responsible?]

I hadn't thought of that angle to it mar (but then I don't have Richey's IQ!).