Parents of 14-year-old girl who went missing 20 years ago beg for ‘answers’

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The parents of a 14-year-old girl who disappeared 20 years ago in Blackpool have begged for an end to their “nightmare”, as the police issue a fresh appeal.

Charlene Downes was last seen waving goodbye to a friend near an alleyway at around 11pm on 1 November 2003, and was reported missing two days later.

A murder inquiry was opened but despite arrests, trials and a £100,000 reward, her disappearance remains unsolved and is one of Lancashire Police’s longest-running missing person inquiries.

Evidence was later uncovered that Charlene had been the victim of child sexual exploitation, and had been one of as many as 60 young girls who had been groomed by a local gang of men to carry out sex acts.

In a new appeal, her parents Karen and Robert Downes urged anyone with information about what happened to their “lovely, cheeky, bubbly girl” to come forward.

“Somebody knows something somewhere and we ask them to come forward and please, end our nightmare,” Mrs Downes said.

“Hope is all we can do and we just hope that one day something will happen and we can get some justice or some closure for Charlene.”

Her father added that the family “just want the nightmare over” and said: “We just want someone to come forward. Be brave and don’t be scared.”

A year after Charlene disappeared, police launched a murder inquiry and two men were arrested and charged. Prosecutors claimed during a 2007 trial that she was killed, dismembered and disposed of at a kebab shop, but her body was never found.

The jury failed to reach a verdict, while a re-trial collapsed due to errors in counter-surveillance collected by Lancashire Police.

An investigation by the Independent Police Complaints Commission produced a highly critical report, finding that evidence-gathering errors had contributed to the retrial’s collapse.

Detective Chief Supt Pauline Stables, the Constabulary’s Head of Crime, said: “I know there are people out there who will have information which would help us find out what happened to Charlene.

“It’s 20 years since Charlene was last seen and perhaps in that time your loyalties and acquaintances have changed and that allows you to think differently than you might have done previously.

“In the past you might not have wanted to come forward with what you know, but now you are able to.

“Please do the right thing and come forward. We want justice for Charlene, we want justice for Charlene’s parents and family.”

Describing her as a “vulnerable teenage girl” who was being exploited, he called on other children who had been in the same position and may have been “too frightened” to give evidence to come forward.

A £100,000 reward remains on offer for information leading to the recovery of her body or the prosecution of her killer.