'Thirty years on, we still don't know who abducted our son'

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12 April 2012

The elderly parents of a teenage boy abducted 30 years ago have issued a final appeal for information about his fate.

Martin Allen, 15, the son of the Australian High Commissioner's chauffeur in London, vanished on his way home from school on Guy Fawkes Night in 1979.

A witness later reported seeing a man apparently holding a boy of Martin's description against his will on the London Underground on the night he vanished.

A series of Scotland Yard inquiries have failed to find any trace of him, despite a series of searches at homes of suspects as far north as Liverpool and Manchester.

Speaking today, Tom and Eileen Allen, of Bordon, Hampshire, admitted they have lost hope of seeing him again and fear they may die before his body is discovered. Mrs Allen, 81, said: "We just want to know what happened so we can have some final closure. But of course it will never go out of our minds. My biggest wish is to have a meeting of the family and a remembrance service, not a funeral, but a service so we can put our memories away. We just want to know what happened. Somebody must know something. Please tell us so we can move on."

Mr Allen, 85, revealed he still cries on the day his son disappeared, his birthdays and when he hears music he loved. He said: "I just break down. I go out into the woods and I simply burst. After that I am all right. I cannot help it. I had hope until the beginning of this year. I still had lots of hope but suddenly it disappeared. I do not know why."

The Yard reviewed the case in 2006 but admit they have no new leads.

Martin, a pupil at the Central Foundation School in the City of London, had intended to stay the night with his brother in Holloway but was returning home to pick up some money. His family lived in a cottage in the grounds of the Australian High Commission in Hyde Park Gate, Kensington.

When he failed to appear his family raised the alarm but there was no trace of him. Later a Tube passenger came forward to say he had seen a man and a boy acting suspiciously at Gloucester Road Tube station.

The man, described as 6ft tall, in his 30s, with blond hair and a moustache, had his arm around a boy who looked like Martin and both appeared nervous. The man was heard to say: "Don't try to run." They travelled to Earl's Court where they got off.

Despite a huge operation, including a visit to every property in Earls Court, 50,000 interviews and 600 statements, police have not been able to trace the man. Anyone with information should call the incident room at Hendon on 0208 358 0100 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

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