Unsolved: The Boy Who Disappeared (2016) s01e07 Episode Script
The Search
What is going on on this island? Yeah.
What is going on? This island is tiny, and everybody wants to tell you what happened to Damien.
But are any of them telling the truth? We've uncovered evidence that Damien Nettles may occasionally have bought drugs from the chief suspect in his disappearance - Nicky McNamara, a convicted dealer, who is now dead.
But, could Damien have been looking to score from McNamara the night he went missing? There's one more witness to talk to - The brother of Damien's best friend.
We're going to see Davey Boon, who is Chris Boon's brother.
He was at the party that Damien was at the night that he disappeared.
Hi.
Hi.
How are you? Hi.
Will we take a seat? Yeah.
Over here? Thank you.
On the night that Damien disappears, it's all six of you and Damien that go to a party in East Cowes.
And I say party, it was just a group of friends, was it? Yeah.
How old were you? I was 15.
You were 15? My understanding is that youse, the gang, I say youse, relied on him to get a little bit of cannabis.
Yeah.
That night that you were having a party, why did Damien leave the party that night? What was hewhat was he leaving the party to do? Well, I don't know.
Um I really can't say.
I w I mean The obvious thing is to lead it to say that he was going to try and look for some drugs, look for some weed to buy.
Um He could easily have gone to find something like that, but Uh I can'tcan't be sure.
After the party, Damien headed to Cowes High Street, the place where he was last seen.
We have one witness who puts McNamara here around 11:30, not long before Damien was last spotted.
Now, after months on the island, another source from the drugs scene in the 1990s agrees to give us his account.
What did this guy tell you? Essentially that Damien had been calling up to a flat in town, where Nicky McNamara was, looking for pills, shouting for drugs, and that pissed McNamara off.
It's a second-hand account, so we trawl the thousands of e-mails passed to us by Damien's mother.
We're looking for more evidence that Damien encountered McNamara that night in Cowes.
There's a great e-mail here.
A witness reported that they saw Nicky McNamara pushing a young male up against a wall in Bars Hill.
That's just off the High Street? Yeah.
The statement came in 2005.
Hmm.
May I ask you a quick question? I'm just looking to talk to 'The man who claims to have witnessed McNamara pushing 'a young fella against a wall has lived on the island for many years.
'He won't show his face on camera, but he'll let us record his voice.
' I saw Nicky Mac.
Nick had a young, thin skinny nipper up against a wall on the bend of Bars Hill.
It was well lit, about midnight-ish.
It wasn't friendly.
No, I knew that straight away.
It wasn't friendly.
He had him by the scruff of the neck and was holding him up against the wall.
Danny Spencer was stood well back.
And, tell me, do you remember only two men being there? There was only two.
Danny Spencer and McNamara.
The witness claims this man, Daniel Spencer, saw McNamara pinning a teenager up against a wall around midnight.
There is no suggestion from the witness that McNamara killed Damien at this point.
And there was an unconfirmed sighting of Damien around half an hour later.
But could Spencer have more information about what happened to Damien? In 2011, Spencer was arrested and bailed in connection with Damien's disappearance.
His file was passed to the CPS, but there was not enough evidence to bring charges.
Bars Hill.
This is where the witness took me to today.
He walked from the Harbour lights, which is just down there.
So, as he's walking past here, he looks up and he sees the two guys.
He knows these guys.
He knows them.
He's known them for years.
Did he say which wall? Yeah, he did, yeah.
Like, he It's clearly quite vivid in his mind, because he's took me straight to it.
He led me to here and he said Nicky Mac had the kid against the wall here.
And he was standing here.
And Dan Spencer, he said, is standing here.
Watching on? Watching.
My source says that Dan Spencer was standing back and not involved in it.
And it was Nicky Mac was the agitator.
And Damien's quite a tall guy, skinny guy.
Yeah.
He saidthe one thing that he kept telling me about the kid was that he was really tall, taller than Nicky Mac and looked really just like a kid.
He was a kid's build.
He makes a statement in 2005, but he did tell people afterwards.
Why did it take him so long? Because he didn't want any part of it.
He didn't want to get involved.
So, what do we make of this witness? Well, there are doubts.
He didn't speak to the police until ten years after Damien disappeared.
He told them he couldn't be sure it was Dan Spencer who witnessed McNamara pinning a tall, skinny boy against a wall.
And he says he only realised this boy could have been Damien a few months after Damien disappeared.
At that point, our source says he confronted McNamara.
It was all in the news, and it's just sort of come up to my mind, like, "Oh, that were that young nipper, that Damien Nettles that night, was it, that I saw you with?" And he got really paranoid.
He couldn't look me in the eyes.
He's going, "No, no, no.
"What are you on about?" Like, you know, he was from one second being relaxed and talking or whatever to his whole demeanour had changed.
To being paranoid and couldn't look me in the eyes.
I'm going to meet a guy who I hope can tell me something about Dan Spencer.
This guy doesn't know I'm coming.
In actual fact, I don't even know if he's going to be in this house.
All I know is that his parents are registered to this address.
And it's the best place to start.
How did that go? Embetter than I expected.
He was fit to tell me that Dan Spencer, when he's drunk .
.
can't stop talking about Damien Nettles.
And he's known Dan Spencer for a long time, so he knows the man.
And the one thing that Dan Spencer keeps saying to him "No body, no crime.
" That's what he said? His words? His words.
They're Dan Spencer's words.
We speak to more than ten acquaintances of Spencer.
All suspect he may have information about Damien's disappearance.
So did Spencer witness McNamara pinning Damien against a wall that night? Could he have information that something else happened later between McNamara and the teenager.
Has Spencer told the police everything he knows? Could he be protecting someone? Or maybe it's nothing more than rumours.
I'm talking to one of our sources.
Mr Spencer repeatedly referred to Damien Nettles as a little cunt.
I'm sorry to use that word, but that was one of the words that he used.
This local private investigator has spoken to the same sources as us about Spencer.
He's heard the same claims about conversations they had with Spencer.
Mr Spencer did say on more than one occasion if there's no body, there's no crime.
No body, no crime.
No body, no crime.
Some of these sources also told us that Spencer got his hands on confidential police witness statements.
Mr Spencer was certainly in possession of police statements.
They were actual police statements and we couldn't work out where he got these statements from.
So he has access to police documents, people who have gone to the police and given testimony? That's correct.
One of the statements Spencer got hold of was given by the witness who said Spencer may have seen McNamara pinning Damien against a wall.
Mr Spencer did show it to more than one person.
He also, I believe, confronted the person who had made a statement and I think there was a lot of shouting involved at that particular time.
Hampshire Police declined to answer when asked how Spencer could have obtained these statements.
We have no evidence that Dan Spencer witnessed Damian's death.
But could he have information that something else happened between McNamara and Damien that evening after the incident in the street? OK, timeline.
OK, so, actually he's posting quite recently.
8th February.
Oh, right, so That's him.
That's very like him.
Digger driver on a site.
Where's the site? Would that go into that? Do you recognise it? Yeah, that's in Brixton.
Yeah, Brixton Windmill.
Daniel Spencer - "Beautiful setting overlooking HMP Brixton.
" That's last year.
That's June 2015.
Do you know what? There's another picture as well of a flat window in Brixton.
Look.
"To let.
" Oh, yeah.
Brixton Road, SW9.
You don't like getting out but you've got to get out because you just You look too obvious.
A bit too suspicious.
Yeah.
'Finding Dan Spencer isn't easy.
'A surveillance specialist helps us locate his address.
' Now we just want to get eyes on him and establish what kind of pattern of life he has.
Does he come and go to work? What time does he leave the house? Just to get a good look at him as well to make sure we're actually watching the right person.
When he comes out that door you'll be able to see straight away.
He should be up through the door, though, if it was him.
There, he's there.
He's on the second.
Going left.
It's not him.
'Spencer proves to be elusive.
' No sign of him? No.
10 o'clock this morning, at about 10:15, he appeared.
The bike was inside and the bike had moved.
Do you think he'll be violent? I don't think he's going to be violent.
It's going to be the shock and he'll be more annoyed at the fact that you found him, I think.
OK.
Bottom line is, we need to do him when we see him.
It's going to be opportunistic and a bit of good luck.
We're sitting about 200 yards away from Daniel Spencer's house.
We haven't seen anything this morning but we know there's a light on in the property.
That's it.
This is really the pinnacle of a lot of effort, and the thought of it is making me feel very ill right now.
He's coming.
That's us.
Daniel Spencer? Hello.
Daniel? Yeah.
Hi, how are you? Bronagh Munro, BBC.
Daniel, can I ask you a few questions? I want to talk about Damien Nettles, OK? Yeah.
Damien, do you know Damien Nettles? What happened to Damien Nettles in 1996? I don't know.
Did McNamara have something to do with the death of Damien Nettles in 1996? No.
No.
No? No.
What happened to Damien in 1996? I don't know.
What happened that night? That's the 100 million question.
What happened to Damien that night? I don't know.
What do you know about Damien? Nothing.
I've worked on this case for six months.
Tell me what you know.
Nothing at all.
Valerie wants her son back.
I'll bet she does.
Valerie wants the body of her son Damien back.
This has been 20 years.
If I could help, I would help, but I don't know anything.
What do you know? Nothing.
Are you joking me? No.
You stop me in the street What are you going on about it? I don't know fuck all.
Daniel, have you been arrested in relation to the death? Yes, I have, and I've answered all the questions.
And what did police ask you? Everything that you are asking now.
And what did you tell them? Everything I know.
What do you know? Nothing.
Daniel This case has ruined my fucking life.
I know nothing.
What would you say to Valerie Nettles? Sorry for her loss.
Daniel, can you tell us anything about where Damien is? If I could How did you get police statements? How did you get witness statements made against you? I don't know a damn thing.
SHE SIGHS No further forward.
What is going on? This island is tiny, and everybody wants to tell you what happened to Damien.
But are any of them telling the truth? We've uncovered evidence that Damien Nettles may occasionally have bought drugs from the chief suspect in his disappearance - Nicky McNamara, a convicted dealer, who is now dead.
But, could Damien have been looking to score from McNamara the night he went missing? There's one more witness to talk to - The brother of Damien's best friend.
We're going to see Davey Boon, who is Chris Boon's brother.
He was at the party that Damien was at the night that he disappeared.
Hi.
Hi.
How are you? Hi.
Will we take a seat? Yeah.
Over here? Thank you.
On the night that Damien disappears, it's all six of you and Damien that go to a party in East Cowes.
And I say party, it was just a group of friends, was it? Yeah.
How old were you? I was 15.
You were 15? My understanding is that youse, the gang, I say youse, relied on him to get a little bit of cannabis.
Yeah.
That night that you were having a party, why did Damien leave the party that night? What was hewhat was he leaving the party to do? Well, I don't know.
Um I really can't say.
I w I mean The obvious thing is to lead it to say that he was going to try and look for some drugs, look for some weed to buy.
Um He could easily have gone to find something like that, but Uh I can'tcan't be sure.
After the party, Damien headed to Cowes High Street, the place where he was last seen.
We have one witness who puts McNamara here around 11:30, not long before Damien was last spotted.
Now, after months on the island, another source from the drugs scene in the 1990s agrees to give us his account.
What did this guy tell you? Essentially that Damien had been calling up to a flat in town, where Nicky McNamara was, looking for pills, shouting for drugs, and that pissed McNamara off.
It's a second-hand account, so we trawl the thousands of e-mails passed to us by Damien's mother.
We're looking for more evidence that Damien encountered McNamara that night in Cowes.
There's a great e-mail here.
A witness reported that they saw Nicky McNamara pushing a young male up against a wall in Bars Hill.
That's just off the High Street? Yeah.
The statement came in 2005.
Hmm.
May I ask you a quick question? I'm just looking to talk to 'The man who claims to have witnessed McNamara pushing 'a young fella against a wall has lived on the island for many years.
'He won't show his face on camera, but he'll let us record his voice.
' I saw Nicky Mac.
Nick had a young, thin skinny nipper up against a wall on the bend of Bars Hill.
It was well lit, about midnight-ish.
It wasn't friendly.
No, I knew that straight away.
It wasn't friendly.
He had him by the scruff of the neck and was holding him up against the wall.
Danny Spencer was stood well back.
And, tell me, do you remember only two men being there? There was only two.
Danny Spencer and McNamara.
The witness claims this man, Daniel Spencer, saw McNamara pinning a teenager up against a wall around midnight.
There is no suggestion from the witness that McNamara killed Damien at this point.
And there was an unconfirmed sighting of Damien around half an hour later.
But could Spencer have more information about what happened to Damien? In 2011, Spencer was arrested and bailed in connection with Damien's disappearance.
His file was passed to the CPS, but there was not enough evidence to bring charges.
Bars Hill.
This is where the witness took me to today.
He walked from the Harbour lights, which is just down there.
So, as he's walking past here, he looks up and he sees the two guys.
He knows these guys.
He knows them.
He's known them for years.
Did he say which wall? Yeah, he did, yeah.
Like, he It's clearly quite vivid in his mind, because he's took me straight to it.
He led me to here and he said Nicky Mac had the kid against the wall here.
And he was standing here.
And Dan Spencer, he said, is standing here.
Watching on? Watching.
My source says that Dan Spencer was standing back and not involved in it.
And it was Nicky Mac was the agitator.
And Damien's quite a tall guy, skinny guy.
Yeah.
He saidthe one thing that he kept telling me about the kid was that he was really tall, taller than Nicky Mac and looked really just like a kid.
He was a kid's build.
He makes a statement in 2005, but he did tell people afterwards.
Why did it take him so long? Because he didn't want any part of it.
He didn't want to get involved.
So, what do we make of this witness? Well, there are doubts.
He didn't speak to the police until ten years after Damien disappeared.
He told them he couldn't be sure it was Dan Spencer who witnessed McNamara pinning a tall, skinny boy against a wall.
And he says he only realised this boy could have been Damien a few months after Damien disappeared.
At that point, our source says he confronted McNamara.
It was all in the news, and it's just sort of come up to my mind, like, "Oh, that were that young nipper, that Damien Nettles that night, was it, that I saw you with?" And he got really paranoid.
He couldn't look me in the eyes.
He's going, "No, no, no.
"What are you on about?" Like, you know, he was from one second being relaxed and talking or whatever to his whole demeanour had changed.
To being paranoid and couldn't look me in the eyes.
I'm going to meet a guy who I hope can tell me something about Dan Spencer.
This guy doesn't know I'm coming.
In actual fact, I don't even know if he's going to be in this house.
All I know is that his parents are registered to this address.
And it's the best place to start.
How did that go? Embetter than I expected.
He was fit to tell me that Dan Spencer, when he's drunk .
.
can't stop talking about Damien Nettles.
And he's known Dan Spencer for a long time, so he knows the man.
And the one thing that Dan Spencer keeps saying to him "No body, no crime.
" That's what he said? His words? His words.
They're Dan Spencer's words.
We speak to more than ten acquaintances of Spencer.
All suspect he may have information about Damien's disappearance.
So did Spencer witness McNamara pinning Damien against a wall that night? Could he have information that something else happened later between McNamara and the teenager.
Has Spencer told the police everything he knows? Could he be protecting someone? Or maybe it's nothing more than rumours.
I'm talking to one of our sources.
Mr Spencer repeatedly referred to Damien Nettles as a little cunt.
I'm sorry to use that word, but that was one of the words that he used.
This local private investigator has spoken to the same sources as us about Spencer.
He's heard the same claims about conversations they had with Spencer.
Mr Spencer did say on more than one occasion if there's no body, there's no crime.
No body, no crime.
No body, no crime.
Some of these sources also told us that Spencer got his hands on confidential police witness statements.
Mr Spencer was certainly in possession of police statements.
They were actual police statements and we couldn't work out where he got these statements from.
So he has access to police documents, people who have gone to the police and given testimony? That's correct.
One of the statements Spencer got hold of was given by the witness who said Spencer may have seen McNamara pinning Damien against a wall.
Mr Spencer did show it to more than one person.
He also, I believe, confronted the person who had made a statement and I think there was a lot of shouting involved at that particular time.
Hampshire Police declined to answer when asked how Spencer could have obtained these statements.
We have no evidence that Dan Spencer witnessed Damian's death.
But could he have information that something else happened between McNamara and Damien that evening after the incident in the street? OK, timeline.
OK, so, actually he's posting quite recently.
8th February.
Oh, right, so That's him.
That's very like him.
Digger driver on a site.
Where's the site? Would that go into that? Do you recognise it? Yeah, that's in Brixton.
Yeah, Brixton Windmill.
Daniel Spencer - "Beautiful setting overlooking HMP Brixton.
" That's last year.
That's June 2015.
Do you know what? There's another picture as well of a flat window in Brixton.
Look.
"To let.
" Oh, yeah.
Brixton Road, SW9.
You don't like getting out but you've got to get out because you just You look too obvious.
A bit too suspicious.
Yeah.
'Finding Dan Spencer isn't easy.
'A surveillance specialist helps us locate his address.
' Now we just want to get eyes on him and establish what kind of pattern of life he has.
Does he come and go to work? What time does he leave the house? Just to get a good look at him as well to make sure we're actually watching the right person.
When he comes out that door you'll be able to see straight away.
He should be up through the door, though, if it was him.
There, he's there.
He's on the second.
Going left.
It's not him.
'Spencer proves to be elusive.
' No sign of him? No.
10 o'clock this morning, at about 10:15, he appeared.
The bike was inside and the bike had moved.
Do you think he'll be violent? I don't think he's going to be violent.
It's going to be the shock and he'll be more annoyed at the fact that you found him, I think.
OK.
Bottom line is, we need to do him when we see him.
It's going to be opportunistic and a bit of good luck.
We're sitting about 200 yards away from Daniel Spencer's house.
We haven't seen anything this morning but we know there's a light on in the property.
That's it.
This is really the pinnacle of a lot of effort, and the thought of it is making me feel very ill right now.
He's coming.
That's us.
Daniel Spencer? Hello.
Daniel? Yeah.
Hi, how are you? Bronagh Munro, BBC.
Daniel, can I ask you a few questions? I want to talk about Damien Nettles, OK? Yeah.
Damien, do you know Damien Nettles? What happened to Damien Nettles in 1996? I don't know.
Did McNamara have something to do with the death of Damien Nettles in 1996? No.
No.
No? No.
What happened to Damien in 1996? I don't know.
What happened that night? That's the 100 million question.
What happened to Damien that night? I don't know.
What do you know about Damien? Nothing.
I've worked on this case for six months.
Tell me what you know.
Nothing at all.
Valerie wants her son back.
I'll bet she does.
Valerie wants the body of her son Damien back.
This has been 20 years.
If I could help, I would help, but I don't know anything.
What do you know? Nothing.
Are you joking me? No.
You stop me in the street What are you going on about it? I don't know fuck all.
Daniel, have you been arrested in relation to the death? Yes, I have, and I've answered all the questions.
And what did police ask you? Everything that you are asking now.
And what did you tell them? Everything I know.
What do you know? Nothing.
Daniel This case has ruined my fucking life.
I know nothing.
What would you say to Valerie Nettles? Sorry for her loss.
Daniel, can you tell us anything about where Damien is? If I could How did you get police statements? How did you get witness statements made against you? I don't know a damn thing.
SHE SIGHS No further forward.