A child abduction leads to the ultimate betrayal… | Forensic Files

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children and won't be suitable for all listeners foreign [Music] 1997 was a public holiday in the United
Kingdom with schools closed eight-year-old Jamie lavis could do whatever he pleased
that morning in Jamie and his 11 year old brother John left their house in the Manchester suburb of open Shore and
headed out to play even though it was cold and raining Jamie and John weren't deterred
they and many other children in the neighborhood often played Outdoors unsupervised for hours at a time
there was never any sense that this might be dangerous the lavis brothers headed to the local
supermarket a usual stop as Janie was fond of lollies it was here where the two boys split up
and went their separate ways at around 3 P.M John lavis returned home for his afternoon tea
Jamie didn't his family didn't worry at first assuming that he'd lost track of time
and was off with a friend somewhere StreetWise and confident Jamie lavis could get across town easily using the
bus yet by dinner time Jamie was still absent Jamie was scared of the dark and always
made sure to be home by dusk his mother Karen Spooner sent one of her daughters to go looking for him
she couldn't find him [Music] by 8pm Karen was shaking and destroyed it was starting to get dark
[Music] [Music] and just as Karen Spooner was beginning to worry her partner returned home from
work Karen and John lavis had been together for almost two decades and had five children
Jamie was their second youngest John told Karen not to worry reassuring her that Jaime would surely be home soon
but when another hour passed with no sign of the eight-year-old John grew equally panicked
Jamie was small and looked several years younger than he actually was Karen had to often buy him clothes that
were made for five or six-year-olds if something had happened to Jamie his family knew he wouldn't be able to fend
for himself Karen and John headed out to search the streets for Jaime they visited places where he liked to
play and checked some of his friends houses there was no trace of him at around 10 pm Jamie's parents called
the police initially it was speculated that Jaime might have run away from home two days earlier on Saturday May 3 he
had gotten into trouble when he came home late with his pockets full of lollies this prompted his father to ground him
all day Sunday staying at home the entire day had been difficult for Jamie he hadn't wasted any time in racing out
of the house first thing on Monday [Music] there were reports that Jaime had told
some friends he wouldn't be staying at home because he didn't want to be grounded again
police officers set about looking for Jamie in places where they thought he might hide
open Shore was one of Manchester's poorer neighborhoods it's maze-like streets were lined with
derelict Terrace houses and factories the police knew that runaways sometimes moved into these abandoned buildings and
remained undiscovered for ages searching all of these along with other similar buildings across greater
Manchester was a mammoth task As Time wore on the police hosted a televised press conference to spread
awareness of Jaime's disappearance at their request Jamie's mother Karen joined them
grief stricken Karen begged her son to come home she reassured him that he wasn't in any
trouble and told him that his entire extended family was out looking for him she asked anyone who might be looking
after Jamie or feeding him to contact the police saying everybody's waiting for him to come home
we just want him home so we can love him [Music] but days continued to pass with no sign
of Jaime lavis the police search grew with senior officers bringing in dog teams Mounted
Police and the forces helicopter to assist divers searched the river tame that snakes through greater Manchester
soon it had become the biggest police investigation the city had seen since the notorious Moore's murders
covered in episode 49 of casefile that case involved the abduction and murder of five children in and around
Manchester during the 1960s although three decades had passed since the Moore's murders the subject of a
missing child brought back painful memories for residents of the area they turned out in droves to help find
Jaime and were quick to report any possible sightings on Thursday May 15 a week and a half
after Jaime vanished a witness reported seeing him with a young man who had a birthmark on his neck
an artist's impression of the young man was drawn and distributed but didn't result in any leads
the lavis family was thrown into upheaval in the wake of Jaime's disappearance his father John quit his job at
Manchester airport so he could dedicate more time to searching for his son Jaime's oldest sister who was 15 dropped
out of school so she could look after her other three siblings and the household
this allowed her parents to pour all of their energy into finding Jaime [Music] reports came through that Jaime might
have been riding the city's 219 bus on the day he vanished the 219 traveled East from Manchester's
city center passed through open shore on its way to the town of Ashton underline
Jamie was known to ride the bus for fun he would board at a stop on Ashton Old Road a bustling Main Street around the
corner from the laver's home on Buckley Street while searching for her brother twelve-year-old Jane lavis spoke to a
local bus driver named Darren Vickers he'd been behind at the wheel of the 219 on May 5.
Darren had recalled a young boy boarding his boss from the Aston Old Road stop at
around 10 30 a.m that day he wouldn't happen to be wearing a dark blue Reebok tracksuit would he Darren
asked Jane confirmed that Jaime had been the fact that Darren knew the brand of tracksuit indicated that he had likely
seen Jamie as that detail hadn't been widely known for some reason the little boy had
introduced himself as Dale [Music] Jaime had a day saver ticket which allowed for unlimited travel throughout
the course of a single day he sat near the front of the bus and mostly looked out of the window quietly
sometimes he chatted to Darren or a few of the other passengers Jaime traveled across the city
disembarking at Ashton underlying station at the end of the line he got back on the bus when Darren was
headed back to the city center and rode back and forth across town like this for
several hours he told Darren he had nothing better to do and as he had an all-day ticket
Darren saw no problem in letting him do so a few other passengers confirmed they'd
also seen Jaime on the bus but no one knew where he might have gone after he eventually disembarked for good
Darren Vickers told Jane he would phone the police to pass this information along
he also visited Jamie's parents at home to share what he knew despite this major lead weeks went by
with no news of Jaime lavis approximately 300 sightings of the young boy were reported by members of the
public but the police only had confidence in three of these none of them had occurred after Monday
May 5 the day he'd disappeared by mid-june it had been a month and a half since he vanished
around this time investigators were able to track down some CCTV footage that confirmed witness accounts Jamie lavis
had been at Ashton underlined bus station on the morning of Monday May 5. Ashton underline was the last stop on
Route 219. security cameras there had captured Jaime wandering around that station then
boarding the bus again as it prepared to return to Manchester the footage was time stamped at 11 20 am
placing him there roughly 50 minutes after he first caught the 219 bus the grainy footage was shown on
television news this evidence of the last known movements of the missing boy reminded
the public of another case that had horrified England four years earlier in 1993 a toddler
named James Bulger had gone missing from a shopping center in merseyside about 33
miles west of Manchester security footage from the center would reveal he had been abducted by two
ten-year-old boys one leading James Away by the hand James bulge's body was found Days Later
near railway tracks he had been tortured and murdered by the other children this case had scandalized the country
now they had another Northern case with grainy video evidence that was eerily familiar
newspaper headlines compared the footage to that from the James Bulger case but there was one clear difference between
the two no one was captured taking Jamie lavis Away despite this police were growing
increasingly certain that they weren't dealing with a missing person's case they believed that Jaime had been
abducted and murdered they told Jamie's parents that although they were still endeavoring to find
their son the chances that he was alive were highly doubtful [Music] Karen Spooner and John lavis refused to
accept this they held out hope that Jaime was still alive somewhere possibly being held by
somebody in one conversation with the journalists Karen stated he's a lovable little rogue constantly
talking I don't want to think the worst part of me thinks he's not coming home part of me wants him to come home
we're going out searching every day and every night a reenactment of Jaime's last movements
were filmed for the television program crime file members of Jamie's family participated in the reenactment
including his brother John the episode of crime file aired on Tuesday June 24 almost two months after
Jaime vanished tips began to trickle in one in particular caught police attention
a member of the public reported that Jaime's body had been buried in a shallow grave
The Gravely in a 190 acre wooded area called Bogart whole cloth located five and a half miles north of open Shore
police prepared to embark on a thorough search of the area on Friday June 27 more than 100 officers
assembled along with dog teams and an underwater search unit the plan was to comb bogged whole cloth
inch by inch officers walked across the park in lines scouring the dense undergrowth and
probing the soil with rods thermal imaging equipment was also used in an attempt to find any possible human
remains the search continued over the weekend and through to the end of Monday it yielded no results
despite failing to find Jaime lavis investigators remained convinced that he was dead and his body had been dumped
somewhere not only that they even had a suspect in their sights from the beginning they had been
suspicious of Darren Vickers The Men Who had come forward to say Jaime had been a
passenger on his boss he was the last person with a confirmed deciding of Jaime after all
but there was something else in the aftermath of Jaime's disappearance Darren Vickers had grown
unusually close to the lavis family early in the case Darren Vickers visited the lavis family to offer to help them
search for Jaime they gratefully accepted Darren was 27 years old with a partner
and four children of his own but he was soon spending much of his time helping out the lavaces
he did more than just comb the streets looking for Jaime anything that Karen and John needed at
any time of day or night Darren would give them he lent them his car so they could
travel further to look for Jaime and also joined them in searches up to 15 miles away from home
he waited with the couple by soup wagons for the needy in case Jaime showed up there in search of food and sometimes he
minded at their other children so they could focus solely on Jaime the sudden meteor attention was also
upsetting and overwhelming for Karen and John so Darren assisted by acting as their spokesperson
he made repeated appeals for information on television and in newspapers while holding up a photograph of Jamie
flashing a mischievous smile hey Echo the labor says conviction that Jaime was very likely still alive
he also participated in the filmed reenactment for Crime vial Karen would later describe a Darren
Vickers as their Tower of strength he offered them help and hope when it felt like both were in short supply
police questioned Darren Vickers in the early days of their investigation they held him for a total of 24 hours
which caused his partner and children a great deal of distress the lavis's were also destroyed to hear
that the man who'd been their strongest Ally since Jaime vanished was being treated like a suspect
as far as Karen was concerned the police had drawn a total blank on her son's case and had arrested Darren out of
desperation and on a whim they were relieved when they found out that he was being released
with no actual evidence that Darren had taken or harmed Jaime they had to let him go without charge
the lavis family were among the supporters waiting for Darren outside of the police station
they threw him as celebratory party upon his release the police didn't give up though
next they searched to Darren's home as well as his vehicle although nothing turned up in the house
investigators thought they'd finally solved the case when they discovered a blood stain in the back seat of his car
they took DNA samples from Janie's parents to compare with the stain but it turned out to have come from a nosebleed
suffered by one of Darren's children having his home searched was too much for Darren
at this point he took sick leave from his job and his relationship with his partner fell apart
suddenly he found himself in need of a new place to live Karen Spooner and John lavis invited him
to move into their home after everything Darren had done for them they were more than happy to offer
him a place to stay Karen and John slept downstairs in the living room so that Darren could have
the main bedroom he helped out by caring for the couple's other four children and taking them
swimming Darren Karen and John had grown so close that Darren asked the couple to be
godparents to the baby his now ex-partner was expecting when the media caught wind of the
suspicion surrounding Darren Vickers articles were published that detailed his arrest and the police search of his
property Darren addressed the suspicions head on by reaching out to various Publications
Radio Networks and television stations in a television interview that was filmed in the Labor's home Karen sat
next to Darren as he defended himself he pointed out that it was only because he'd come forward to report seeing Jaime
on his bus that the police had any leads in the first place quote I thought I did the right decent thing
in letting them know that I'd seen him on the day but I'd never have thought I'd have been arrested on suspicion of
his abduction I think it's just a joke and I've got the backing of the lavis family
relations everybody during one interview a photograph was taken of Darren sitting between Karen
and John on a sofa the couple's Expressions were mournful and Darren's arms were slung over their
shoulders as they leaned towards him his face was blank the seriousness of the situation was
undercut by Darren's choice of attire for the candid photo shoot while Karen and John were both fully
dressed Darren was only wearing trousers and was naked from the waist up speaking with the guardian Darren said
he believed Jaime was still alive stating someone is definitely holding him somewhere I think he's just too scared
to come home Whoever has taken him could have told him that if he goes home he could be
taken away from his parents a child of that age doesn't know what to think he's very easily LED
at times I wish I could just turn the clock back to that bank holiday Monday and to that the boy had stayed at home
here greater Manchester police were finding the Jamie lavis investigation especially
difficult ordinarily they like to work closely with victims families and keep them
informed of any updates in the case but this was proving difficult when the person they suspected had become a
trusted member of the family's Clan the truth was there were multiple reasons detectives had been LED in a
particular direction from the start when Jaime's sister Jane had first encountered Darren Vickers he'd promised
to phone the police and to let them know that the eight-year-old had been on his
bus that day but he never did instead the police had followed up with him one week later after they heard he'd
encountered Jaime other Witnesses who had seen Jamie on Darren's bus confirmed elements of his
account however they also described a very different scene than Darren Jamie lavis hadn't been sitting quietly
and staring out the window like any other passenger he had been running up and down the
aisle and acting as a sort of assistant to Darren Jamie handed out passengers tickets from
the driver's cabin sorted their change and was even permitted to change the bus's gears while Darren was driving
a couple of people reported that as Jaime took hold of the gear stick the vehicle began swaying and then briefly
mounted the curb all of the passengers jolted forward in the words of the lead investigator
Roy rainford Darren Vickers had made that bust like a playground at times Darren was seen ruffling
Jaime's hair and he gave the boy 50p to buy a drink the pair seemed so close that some
passengers assumed Darren was Jamie's father one woman asked to Jamie are you having a day out with your dad
Jamie had rolled his eyes at Darren then turned back to the woman and said no with my uncle
and despite Darren claiming that Jaime had a day saver ticket police knew that those tickets were only issued to adults
not children the detective's suspicions had only deepened when they reviewed the CCTV
footage captured at Ashton underlined bus station at 11 20 am that day at some points the footage showed Jaime
on his own but then Darren Vickers had wandered into the frame hate traiped after Jaime and ruffled the
boy's hair as passengers had seen him do then the two re-boarded the bus together
Darren Vickers hadn't told investigators about this when detectives interviewed Darren about
the events of the day he acknowledged that Jaime hadn't just ridden the bus for a little while then disembarked by
himself he'd been on the bus for six hours riding back and forth across the road as
Darren completed his shift Darren said that when his shift was over he'd offered to give Jamie a lift home
from the bus depot as it was raining he said it wasn't a bother as his house was only three streets away from Jamie's
according to Darren Jaime claimed he couldn't go home as his parents weren't there
so Darren dropped him near his grandmother's house instead according to Darren something must have
happened to Jamie after this detectives didn't believe this story at all if Darren had taken Jaime to his
grandmother's house why hadn't the boy ever made it there digging into Darren Vickers the police
learned that he'd only been hired as a bus driver a few days before Jaime went missing
investigators obtained his CV from the bus company and examined it closely a number of people were listed as
referees individuals who Darren had chosen to be his character references but when the police tried tracking these
people down they discovered that almost all of them were made up only one of the referees was real
he was a convicted child molester investigators believed that Darren Vickers was a pedophile who had seized
an opportunity when Jamie lavis boarded his boss on Monday May 5 1997. he had groomed at the eight-year-old
throughout the course of his shift by allowing Jaime to participate in the running of the boss
this would have been especially appealing to Jaime who was known to love buses police believed that after his shift
ended Darren had abducted Jaime molested him and then killed him but without a body they had no way of
proving this the police were equally suspicious of Darren's behavior in the wake of Jaime's
disappearance although he had come forward to report Jaime boarding his boss he hadn't done
so until other Witnesses had already said they'd seen the same thing and instead of going to the police
Darren Vickers had approached to Jamie's family directly and made himself invaluable to them
his fixation with the lavaces had become so strong that he wound up neglecting his own children and lost his new job
after taking too much time off to search although investigators were convinced that Jaime was dead sightings of the boy
continued to trickle in the police followed up everyone on several occasions throughout the
investigation they had been surprised by Darren and the Jamie's mother Karen turning up at locations where someone
had just phoned in a suspected sighting they often got there before the detectives did
it turned out that Darren had purchased a police scanner he listened to it constantly keeping an
ear out for anything related to Jaime's case the police believed Darren was using the
lavaces to gain inside information about the investigation it was also a way to convince them he
couldn't be the culprit by September 1997 four months had passed since Jamie lavis had disappeared
detectives decided to turn their attention from Darren Vickers to those around him
towards the end of the month they brought in his sister mother and his pregnant ex-partner after questioning
three other associates of Darren were also arrested including two close friends the six individuals were asked about
Alibis they had provided for him and threatened with charges of conspiracy to pervert the course of Justice
although there were inconsistencies in their stories the arrests didn't lead to the Smoking Gun investigators needed
all six were released a few days later around this time two teenagers came forward to police with a disturbing
story according to the adolescence a man in his twenties had recently taken them to
a sprawling 161 hectare Park called reddishvale located in Greater Manchester's team
Valley reddish Vale features wooded areas as well as a golf club walking paths and River views
for some reason the man had taken the teens to the park in the middle of the night
he tried to lead them away from a path and into a densely wooded area near the golf course
the men turned to the two reluctant teenagers and showed them a photograph he was holding
it showed Jamie lavis then the man pointed up ahead and remarked I think that's him
he invited them both to come with him for a closer look then turned to keep walking into the thicket
the teenagers couldn't see anything in the area where the man had gestured but they were still terrified
instead of joining him they made an excuse and ran away when the teenagers went to the police
with this story they said that they'd recently recognized the man they had been watching television when
his face appeared on the news giving an interview it was bus driver Darren Vickers
foreign it was soon discovered that Darren had also LED two more children to the same
area of the same park investigators decided to pounce before anyone else was hurt
Darren Vickers had a series of outstanding driving offenses which were enough for police to hold him for up to
10 weeks they also felt they had enough circumstantial evidence to charge him with the Jamie lavis's abduction
in mid-october Darren Vickers was arrested for a second time meanwhile a meticulous search of
reddishvale Park got underway on Thursday October 23. with some help from their teenage
Witnesses police traced the route where Darren had led them the spot that he'd pointed out was a
particularly dense wooded area with lots of undergrowth navigating the scrub was difficult but
about half a mile off the path in a small clearing officers spotted something it was atar Poland
lying beneath the canvas material they discovered a pair of dark blue child-sized tracksuit pants and a
child's green wax jacket the clothing matched what Jamie lavis had been wearing on the day he vanished
the clothes were carefully packed up and taken back to the police station to be forensically examined
because the clothing was wet from having been out in the elements police laid them out to dry before they were studied
as the tracksuit pants were unraveled something fell out of them it was the lower part of a small Jawbone
[Music] a fingertip search of the remaining wooded area uncovered more bones scattered throughout the location were
parts of a child's torso the body had been dismembered and there was no trace of their head or limbs
DNA testing of some milk teeth that were recovered revealed that the remains belonged to Janie lavis
police theorized that Darren Vickers had visited the location repeatedly as Jaime's body decomposed
while it seemed likely that some of the boy's body had been scavenged by animals
investigators suspected that Darren had carried Parts away as well this was most likely done to prevent
Jaime from being found due to the dense nature of the woods the detectives firmly believed that Jaime
had been assaulted murdered and dismembered in the location where he was found the thick brush that led to the clearing
had to be navigated using both hands it would have been near impossible for Darren Vickers to have done so if he was
carrying a body as well another reason they suspected that he had repeatedly visited the site was
because he wanted to relive his crimes when investigators informed Karen Spooner that the human remains recovered
from reddish Veil belonged to Jaime she responded by stating no it's not it seemed impossible that detectives
could know her son was dead from milk teeth alone even though Karen confirmed that the
clothing found was Jamie's it would take her months to accept the truth she couldn't believe that anyone would
trade a child so callously or that Jaime could be gone when she never got to say
goodbye Jamie's Father John was also in a state of disbelief Darren had been so helpful to them in
searching non-stop for Jaime John had believed in him entirely [Music] one of Jamie's sisters covered her ears
when her parents were told that Jamie was dead she didn't want to hear what the police
were saying or to hear her parents crying for hours afterwards the house echoed with the sobs of her mother and father
to add to the lavis family's pain they now had confirmation that the person they had welcomed into their home was
responsible for their grief not only that but Darren Vickers might have been poised to strike again
while he had ignored Jaime's two sisters during the time he'd spent with the lavaces he had showered 11 year old John
with attention Darren had bought John a new bike and shoes this special treatment was eerily
similar to the way he'd groomed Jaime for hours on the bus it emerged that Darren had also taken
John for rides across town on buses John looked quite similar to Jamie his presence on the city's buses had led
to members of the public phoning in incorrect sightings of Jamie detectives believed that Darren did this
to intentionally throw the investigation off track on one occasion Darren had even taken
John lavis to reddishvale sitting John down on a tree stump Darren had given him a cigarette and then he
stated this is where your Jamie is and if you don't behave yourself I'll throw you in
[Music] Darren Vickers was charged with the murder of Jamie lavis while he was on remand he penned a
15-page statement which he gave to the police the document was a confession of sorts
he claimed that Jaime had stayed on the bus until the end of his shift as Darren had prepared to garage the bus
Jaime began playing with its ticket machine quote I'm not sure where it went wrong Jaime
was starting to mess with the ticket machine I told him don't you'll jam it I raised my left hand and hit him on the
side of the head I looked around and to break tired because a car was turning right
when I hit him Jamie fell back hitting his head on the luggage rack Darren claimed that Jaime then fell
forward knocking his head a second time and falling into the well of the bus's exit doors
quote I said sorry Jamie are you okay his eyes were closed I couldn't find a pulse I
started to panic bad Christ I've killed him Darren Vickers claimed that after his
shift he left his bus at the Depot and drove home with the Jamie's body stashed in his car
as the house next door to his was empty he put Jamie's body in there then he took his partner and children
over to his parents house once they were out of the way he transferred Jaime's body back to his car
he then took it to reddishvale where he dumped it the confession concluded quote
I did not mean for anything like this to happen I'm sorry but I hope now that this is an end to all this
Darren Vickers was adamant that Jaime's death was an accident investigators dismissed the confession
as yet another lie he'd concocted to save face not long after confessing and Darren
Vickers told investigators that he would plead guilty to spare Jaime's family further suffering
but he soon retracted his confession and reneged on This Promise instead opting to go to trial
the seven-wake trial began in early March 1999 almost two years after Jaime was killed
with no forensic evidence tying Darren to the crime and the method of murder unknown the prosecution relied heavily
on Darren's bizarre behavior as evidence of guilt Darren took the stand in his own defense
and presented the jury with yet another version of events he implicated Jaime's Father John lavis
in Jaime's murder claiming that John had a violent streak Darren also said that five days after
Jaime disappeared he and to Jamie's mother had started a sexual relationship the two had been searching a park
together when Karen told Darren that she found him attractive it was obvious what she was on about
Darren stated there was no harm in what we were doing there was no harm in it at all it was
between ourselves [Music] Darren claimed that the next time the two were alone together they had sex
again he said that in total they'd been intimate together 11 times [Music] at the time of the trial Karen Spooner
was pregnant again Darren Vickers claimed that the baby was his Karen was forced to take a blood test to
prove that her longtime partner John was actually the baby's father when she took the stand she was clear
that she'd never had any kind of romantic relationship with Darren Vickers quote
I've been with my partner nearly 18 years I've never had any cause to go behind his back
and Darren vicker's latest lies traumatized the lavis family further his claims were splashed across tabloids
people whispered behind their backs and a graffiti was scrawled in the lavis's neighborhood that accused Karen of
sleeping with her son's murderer Karen Spooner had her Integrity questioned and John lavis was in total
shock that anyone would accuse him of being violent towards his children as his daughter Nicola told the
television program real crime crocodile tears he worshiped his kids lead investigator Roy rainford
attributed the outrageous claims to Darren vicker's desire for control quote he's a control freak he was controlling
the family he was controlling the media and he was trying to control our inquiries
right up to the end after deliberating for two days the jury of nine women and three men unanimously
declared Darren Vickers guilty Karen Spooner cried as the verdict was delivered the judge sentenced to Darren to life
for murder and an additional four years for the Abduction of Jaime with a minimum of 25 years
he described Darren vicker's crimes as truly Wicked and denoted that he'd told lies with Frills on throughout the
investigation and the trial the two teenagers who had come forward to report Darren Vickers to police were
praised by the judge each were rewarded 150 pounds from public funds outside Court Karen Spooner said
and justice has been done today for Jaime hopefully now he can rest in peace no child deserves to Die the way Jaime
died and hopefully now Darren Vickers is in prison children in Manchester will be
safer less than 24 hours after he was convicted Darren Vickers requested to speak with the case's lead investigator
Roy rainford four days later the detective visited him in prison through tears Darren admitted that the
police had gotten it right he had abducted sexually assaulted and murdered Jamie lavis
Darren also with the drew his allegations against Jamie's father he gave a similar though less emotional
confession to fellow prisoners he admitted to a cellmate that he'd sexually abused Jamie on his bus before
quote swiping out at the boy when he went to pocket some cash Darren Vickers told other inmates that
he and some friends used to hang around near group homes for disadvantaged children in the hopes of propositioning
minors stating they will do anything for money the confession given to Roy rainford
would be taken into account when the time came for Darren Vickers to apply for parole
he's a long-awaited admission brought some relief to the lavis family speaking with the journalists Karen
Spooner said it shows he has a conscience I'm sure he has done it for his own reasons but it
means a lot to us this will totally clear John's name Darren Vickers has attempted to appeal
his conviction twice since 1999. in 2005 a story broke in which his mother Wendy claimed there was new
evidence and that Darren had an alibi for May 5 1997. she said that his prison confession was
false and he'd made it up to prevent her his ex-partner his sister and two friends from having to go to court
themselves all had been charged with conspiracy to pervert the course of Justice
investigators believed they had all cooked up a plan together to lie for Darren Vickers
the group were found not guilty of the charges but Darren's bids to appeal his conviction have both failed
[Music] as of late 2022 he remains incarcerated in a Maximum Security Prison in November 2022 news broke that Darren
now aged 56 may be free within several months in February 2023 the parole board will
consider his application for release during the hearing the board will consider the risk he may pose to the
community if allowed out one police officer who worked closely with the lavis family during the
investigation told the Manchester Evening News quote Vickers will be a danger to children for
the rest of his life he can never be rehabilitated in my opinion Jaime lavis's loved ones had to wait for
more than a year after he went missing before they could lay him to rest in the years since he was killed his
family visited his graveside regularly in the documentary Somebody's Daughter somebody's son one of Jamie's sisters
said she tried to cope by focusing on her family and keeping Jaime's memory alive
she refused to waste time thinking about Darren Vickers stating he doesn't deserve my thoughts
Karen Spooner told producers for the television program real crime crocodile tears that whenever she visited Jaime
for his birthday or at Christmas she would reflect on how wrong it was instead of being able to buy him toys
and presents she had to buy him flowers and ornaments for his headstone Karen wrote poetry to express her grief
though she found reading the poems aloud too painful one poem that she wrote for Jamie reads
for all the precious gifts in life however Great and Small to have you as my son was the greatest gift of all
your smile is gone forever your hand I cannot touch I will never lose a memory of the sun I love so much
[Music] foreign [Music] [Music]

Case 259: Jamie Lavis

*** Content warning: Child victims, child sexual abuse *** When eight-year-old Jamie Lavis failed to return home on Monday, May 5 1997, his family quickly raised the alarm. Soon, it seemed as though all of Greater Manchester was searching for the missing boy – including a bus driver named Darren Vickers, who came forward to say he’d seen Jamie on his bus that day. The 27-year-old bus driver quickly became one of the Lavis family’s biggest supporters, but investigators were suspicious of him from the very beginning…

CREDITS

Narration – Anonymous Host Research & writing – Erin Munro Creative direction – Milly Raso Production and music – Mike Migas Music – Andrew D.B. Joslyn

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RESOURCES

For all credits and sources, please visit https://casefilepodcast.com/case-259-jamie-lavis

Brief Summary

The episode details the abduction and murder of eight-year-old Jamie Lavis by bus driver Darren Vickers in 1997.

Key points

The Disappearance of Jamie Lavis. On a public holiday in 1997, eight-year-old Jamie Lavis goes missing, sparking a massive search effort.
A Mother's Plea. Karen Spooner begs for her son's return during a televised press conference.
The Investigation Intensifies. As days pass with no sign of Jamie, the police investigation grows, involving multiple resources.
A New Suspect Emerges. Darren Vickers, the last confirmed person to see Jamie, becomes a suspect in the investigation.
Confession and Trial. Darren Vickers confessed to the murder but later retracted his statement during the trial.
Darren Vickers Arrested. Darren Vickers was arrested for the murder of Jamie Lavis, shocking the community.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I don't want to think the worst.

Karen Spooner expressing her hope for her son's return.

13:34WatchSep 9, 2023

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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