£20,000 reward to solve mystery of boy who vanished after going to buy eggs in Croydon 30 years ago

Pic:Kevin Hicks disappeared 30 years ago
Crime reporter(wp/es):

Detectives today announced a £20,000 reward to discover what happened to a 16-year-old boy who disappeared 30 years ago after going out to buy some eggs in south London.

Kevin Hicks told his mother he was heading to some shops a few minutes away. He did not return and was never seen again.

Today detectives said they believed he was assaulted and murdered by someone he met after he left his Croydon home and appealed for people in the local community to come forward.

Kevin had set out on Sunday, April 2, 1986 to buy ingredients for an O-level cookery exam the following day. 

It was a cold evening and he was carrying just £1 when he went to Sperrings community shop, a few minutes’ walk away in Lower Addiscombe Road.

He was last seen by someone who knew him at 10pm in Shirley Road, walking in the general direction of home.

His parents have both since died, but today his younger sister Alexandra Hicks, 45, from Sutton, told of her ongoing heartache, saying: “Christmas is always a particularly hard time of the year, especially now both my parents are gone. 

“It would be the best Christmas present to have Kevin back or to know what has happened to him. Someone somewhere knows something. It is time to let go of that secret.”

Detectives said they now believed the teenager had been murdered after a review of the case was carried out earlier this year.

Detective Inspector John McQuade, who is leading the inquiry, said: “Kevin simply disappeared that night and was never seen nor heard of again.

“Many enquiries have been carried out over the years but Kevin’s body has never been found yet there is no evidence he is still alive. 

“We believe Kevin must have met someone that night and been assaulted. Perhaps the suspect didn’t mean to kill him but it is clear Kevin’s body must have then been disposed of.”

He appealed to a person who called the Croydon Advertiser newspaper anonymously 10 years after Kevin’s disappearance, saying she knew the location of his body to get in touch with police again.

Mr McQuade said: “I truly believe people in the local Croydon community hold the answers to what happened to Kevin.”

Kevin was described as a happy teenager with no problems at school and had been applying for jobs in the weeks before his disappearance.