Heartbreaking truth finally revealed after dad vanished from pub toilet 57 years ago
A family had to wait 56 years to learn what really happened to a husband, dad and grandfather who disappeared without a trace after nipping to the pub loos in 1967
A dad popped to the pub as usual but was never seen again. Now, some 57 years later his family have learned the heartbreaking reason why.
In January 1967, miner Alfred Swinscoe, 54, nipped to the outside loo of his Derbyshire local, handing his son Gary 10 bob for last orders on his way. Then he seemingly vanished forever.
Russell Lowbridge grew up knowing he should never ask what on Earth happened to his missing grandfather ‘the Champion Pigeon Man of Pinxton’.
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One theory suggested he had recently estranged from his long-suffering wife and simply ran out on her and their six kids, Mirror reports.
While scrolling social media in April last year, Russell came across a police post about a body that had been dug up in a farmer’s field. He remarkably recognised one of his long-lost granddad’s odd socks.
Russell, who lives a few miles from the field, said: “I didn’t pay much attention to begin with, but then police posted a photo of a pair of odd socks and I had this incredible flashback, with the black sock in particular.
“I suddenly remembered as a kid putting on my granddad’s sock and pulling them up so the heel came right up to my knee. I called police and they came to take a DNA swab. That’s when we found out that it really was Alfred. I was shocked and flabbergasted.
“He was murdered quite viciously. There was blunt force trauma to the head and sharp force trauma to the jaw lines, so it might have been the edge of a spade, and possibly stabbing afterwards.
“They said he fought for his life. There were signs of a broken hand, as if he’d given somebody a good right hook. And they found trauma to his ribs and his back, as if he'd been grappling with someone and they'd been punching him in the ribs.
“Police believe he’d been left somewhere for a week or more before they buried him, because there were fingers and ribs missing as if he’d been ravaged by foxes and badgers. Whoever killed him went back to make sure he was never found.”
The copse where Alfred’s body was found was a known site for gay liaisons in the 60s - when homosexuality was illegal.
“Did they bury him there because they knew no-one would have dared report anything suspicious to the police? Or had grandad found out that the man who killed him was gay and he was killed so he couldn’t tell?” ponders Russell.
Perhaps the biggest blow, however, was finding out who police believe to be the two main suspects. Both deceased, they cannot be named, but Russell is good friends with the grandchildren of both his granddad’s suspected killers. “They are people I have daily contact with. It came as quite a blow actually,” he says.
In January, the family finally laid Alfred to rest - on top of son Gary and next to daughter Carol and his wife Caroline, who never remarried - in a Sutton-in-Ashfield cemetery.
Assistant Chief Constable Rob Griffin, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Alfred died in the most horrendous way imaginable. Not only did he suffer violent injuries, but he was then buried in a field so that no one would find him.
“What makes this crime even more distressing is that it has taken more than 50 years for his remains to be found and for his family to be reunited with their loved one so he can have a proper burial.
“Of course, there will be little relief for his family as there are still so many unanswered questions of what happened that night and the motive behind his murder.
“Many of the people who would have been with Alfred that night, or knew Alfred, are no longer alive and we may never get the full picture of what occurred in January 1967. That certainly hasn’t stifled our determination to investigate this crime and leave no stone unturned to find his killer or killers."