In May 1973 there was very inclement weather in the Scunthorpe area. It was cold and wintry. Around the streets where the Markhams lived in Robinson Road, there were extensive roadworks in progress, the Council were doing sewerage work and excavation. It was not a pleasant day for a search, and when the search was for a young girl who had not been seen in school, it was even worse.
Young Christine Markham had been to Ashby on the day she disappeared. She had gone to see a relative but never come home. Christine was seen at times, such as one sighting on Frodingham Road, and by another person at around midnight, but that may not definitely have been her. All kinds of possibilities arose when it came to a search for her. The part of Crosby where she lived is close to Ferry Road and to the area of natural beauty called Atkinson’s Warren (Akkie’s Warren locally) and the detectives in charge made sure that this area was thoroughly searched; police divers were also involved.
The police drew a circle on the map and went to every dwelling. Only one occupier refused them entry, and that was not a wise move. The man in charge was the charismatic Scot, Miller Patrick, who had been previously in the Grimsby Borough and came into the force at a time when a number of professional footballers were recruited, and he had plenty of ideas. But all kinds of false leads and dead-ends came along, even the appearance of a diary, found behind a bar in a pub, which turned out to be a red herring. Steadily, the search widened to include rubbish tips and rivers, back yards and cemeteries. Obviously, paedophiles were checked out and offenders in certain prisons were visited.
As time went on, some questions about criminals in a wider context had to be asked. In that respect, two lines of enquiry began: one concerned a man called Joe Kappen, who had lodged in the Scunthorpe vicinity in that year, and he had earlier been a suspect in some murders that took place in South Wales (the cases of Pauline Floyd, Geraldine Hughes and Sandra Newton); Christine had disappeared on May 21 and was never seen again. Kappen is known to have lived in Gainsborough, only fourteen miles way, at the time, and he worked in Scunthorpe as a Christine Markham. Laura Carter lorry driver.