Man went to pub toilet and was found 56 years later (2024)

Alfred Swinscoe went to the pub one night and was never seen again

A mystery so harrowing that most of Russell Lowbridge's family refused to ever even mention it. Growing up, he knew he should never bring up the subject of what had happened to his missing grandfather Alfred Swinscoe, 54, who on a cold night in January 1967 gave his son Gary 10 bob for last orders, then popped to the outside toilet of his local pub - and vanished into thin air.

Most thought the proud Derbyshire miner and pigeon racer - nicknamed 'Sparrow' and 'the Champion Pigeon Man of Pinxton' - recently estranged from his long-suffering wife, had run out on her and their six kids. Only Gary, Russell's uncle and the last person to see Alfred at the Miners' Arms in Pinxton village, refused to believe he would have abandoned his family and never gave up hoping he would see his dad again - right up to the day he died in 2012.

With Gary gone, Russell, 61, who was just four when Alfred disappeared, thought he'd never discover the truth. Then suddenly, while scrolling social media and coming across a police post about a body that had been dug up in a farmer's field, he recognised one of his long-lost granddad's odd socks from 56 years earlier, reports the Mirror.

It was the shock start to a year which has cleared up decades of uncertainty - but has also left him with questions he fears will never be answered. With a stalled cold case police investigation and an adjourned inquest into his grandfather's death, Russell is now making a desperate plea for information before the case is permanently closed.

The fate of Alfred Swinscoe would still be lost in history if a farmer hadn't dug a ditch next to a copse beside his field, in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Notts, to deter trial bikers from tearing up his land in April last year. He alerted the police after human bones and a man's clothes, buried 6ft under, began to fall from the claws of his digger. Traumatic injuries to the skeleton later revealed that the man, who still had pre-decimal coins in his pocket, had been brutally murdered.

Russell, who lives a few miles from the field and had driven past it hundreds of times, recalls: "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."

"It turns out that he was wearing odd socks on the night. My initial thoughts about that were, 'poor lad, he'd left his wife and was down on his luck, he was in lodgings and wasn't on top of his washing.' Or maybe that was just one of his feet and he was wearing two socks on each. It was in the middle of winter."

Russell says he probably wouldn't have known anything about his granddad if it weren't for Gary, his closest uncle, with whom he shared a love for pigeon racing - which was also Alfred's favourite pastime. He says: "My mother never spoke about him, nor my grandmother, it was only ever Uncle Gary."

"I think there was some upset amongst the family because he had left home about a year earlier. Alfred could become quite erratic after a few pints and caused quite a few arguments. The others laid it to bed and got on with their lives. But Gary never shut up about him, he would tell stories about him and often say, 'I wish I knew where my dad was'."

"He told me he would go back to Pinxton and go looking in outbuildings, abandoned buildings, ditches and down old wells, anywhere Alfred could have fell or been put, and he never gave up on it. Even when he got older he would go looking, while he still had the strength."

"He always thought something sinister had happened. He was just an ordinary simple man. He had no passport, driving licence or car. He couldn't have started a new life somewhere else."

"Gary would write to the Salvation Army but they never found any trace of Alfred. Later in life, he enlisted solicitors to look for his death certificate, but they never found anything either. He even paid a private investigator, but all to no avail and he took it all to his deathbed."

"When Uncle Gary died my first thoughts were, 'Oh dear, what happens now? We'll never find out what really happened. When I heard about the body I knew I had to get in touch, even if the rest of the family didn't want to. I had to do it for Uncle Gary."

Alfred began his labour at Langton Colliery in Ashfield, aged 14, quickly progressing to become a 'cutter' who commanded machinery extracting large chunks of coal from the coal face. Despite the fact that Alfred had parted ways with his wife Caroline a year prior, who had relocated to nearby Sutton-in-Ashfield along with their descendants, including Russell and his mum Julie, Gary, who was 30 at the time, continued to meet his dad for a pint at the Miners' Arms.

Russell recalls that January 27, 1967, a Friday night, was pay day at the pit: "Gary had gone out with a mate that night and met up with granddad at the pub. He remembers his dad giving him 10 bob to get the last round, and then glancing round and seeing him going out. He assumed he was going to the outside toilets and would be right back."

"The next morning, the man he'd been lodging with came round our house in Ashfield looking for him, because he hadn't come home that night and it was the day he had to pay his board. He thought he'd run away to get out of paying." Despite numerous theories conceived over the subsequent five decades, last year's scientific evaluation of his remains revealed a different story.

Russell states: "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 police believe that whoever did it had a car, because of the distance to the field, and there weren't a lot of cars on the road at that time. Did they kill him first, or hoodwink him into taking a ride, then stop somewhere and do the deed? ".

Perhaps the most shocking revelation for Russell was discovering who the police suspect were behind his granddad's murder, both now deceased and unnamed for to legal reasons. Russell is close with the grandchildren of the alleged culprits.

"They are people I have daily contact with. It came as quite a blow actually." One of the suspects was known for his violent behaviour and theft, having been in the Miners' Arms pub the night Alfred vanished. The injuries found on Alfred's body bore similarities to those the suspect had inflicted on another victim in an assault he was convicted for in April 1966, the police noted.

"My uncle had already suspected one of them. He'd had been in a battle or two with him himself and he'd been in the forces so knew military tactics. He always thought he was the prime suspect and even challenged him many times over the years. But I don't agree with the police about the other one. I can't bring myself to believe that he was also involved. The police traced records and are saying that their dispute was money related. I don't know why though, as grandad had a well-paid job."

In January, Alfred was finally laid to rest in a Sutton-in-Ashfield cemetery, alongside his son Gary and near his daughter Carol and wife Caroline, who never remarried. The service was led by Stephen Blakeley, known for his role as PC Younger in 'Heartbeat', who now serves as a celebrant. "It's some comfort for the family to know he didn't abandon them, and that he's not lost anymore. But it's so tragic that poor Uncle Gary never got to find out what happened to him."

The long-standing mystery of his disappearance has been resolved, yet many questions linger. "Now it's the whys," Russell said. "Why did someone do that to him? He never upset anyone, except for his fellow pigeon fanciers. He wasn't a violent man, he didn't get into fights, and he was known for being generous. I just don't understand why anyone would have wanted him dead.

"I believe that somebody, somewhere, knows the truth. It could be that whoever did it kept schtum all their lives and made a deathbed confession, and that their sons or daughters know something but don't want to say. My fear is that the police will close the case and we'll never find out. I just hope that someone will come forward so Alfred's family can finally find peace."

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. During our investigation we have identified two potential suspects which under normal circ*mstances if Alfred had been murdered today, would have been arrested and brought in for questioning.

"We don't have that opportunity as they are no longer alive. We will continue to investigate this crime and continue to look at all new and existing avenues available to us. It is more than a year since Alfred was found and we would like to hear from anyone who has not yet come forward to do so and help us with our investigation."

"As time goes by, loyalties change, and we would ask those who have more information about Alfred's death to please come forward and do the right thing and help this grieving family get the closure they desperately need and deserve. This will continue to be at the heart of everything we do."