vanished

The Derbyshire Peak District villages of Ashopton and Derwent were lost forever when they were submerged as part of the Derwent Valley scheme to create Ladybower Reservoir

“People come up to me and say isn’t it beautiful around here. But it’s nothing to what it was. It’s all man-made now.”

Those are the words of Morris Cottrill, whose family lived in the village of Derwent before it was lost to the water.

Along with nearby Ashopton, the beautiful Peak District village of Derwent found itself deliberately subsumed on March 18, 1943, when great torrents were unleashed.

As the water level rose higher, buildings that had stood since the 17th century slowly disappeared. Once the 6,310 million gallons of water had flowed in, only the spire of Derwent’s St John and St James church could be seen above the surface.

The church had held its final service the day before the Chairman of the Derwent Valley Water Board, Alderman Sir Albert Atkey, closed the outlet valve and triggered the deluge.

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The villages had been full of life and history before their demolition. The impressive Derwent Hall dated back to 1672 and was, at one point, owned by the Duke of Norfolk. Ashopton was larger and busier than Derwent and boasted a coaching inn, a post office, shop, a chapel and a garage as well as houses and farms.

Despite the furious protests of locals, the buildings of Derwent and Ashopton were purchased compulsorily by the Derwent Valley Water Board between 1935 and 1945. The villagers were moved out and rehoused in an estate at Yorkshire Bridge, in 62 houses built at a cost of £65,758.

“The last church service must have been incredibly sad,” said Kathleen Greenan, Chair of Bamford History Group. “Those villagers gave up a whole way of life. Most of them were rehoused in an estate. Everything must have been completely different for them – they would have been self-sufficient until then.”

Before the water swept over the villages many of the buildings were demolished and bodies were exhumed from the churchyards.

The one remaining visible monument to the lost villages, the spire, was demolished in 1947 over safety concerns. Too many people had been risking their lives by swimming out to the strange shape in the water.

Several years after the Ladybower Reservoir began providing water to the people of the Peak District, the River Noe was diverted into it to meet the rising demands of the thirsty locals, further subsuming Derwent and Ashopton.

Despite this, the villages have been seen again. In fact, they are reappearing with increased regularity.

During periods of drought, when the water level falls, the crumbled remains of the villages can once again be seen.

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The remarkably depleted water levels in 2018 attracted a record-breaking number of visitors down onto the reservoir beds and to the ruins.

Charles Hanson, proprietor of Hansons Auctioneers who sold a collection of postcards taken in the village in the 1930s, said: “It’s hard to believe in today’s world, where conservation is so important, that the government would allow a fine 17th century hall, a Victorian steepled church built on the site of a 14th century chapel, a toll cottage, a Georgian coaching inn and two picturesque villages full of cottages to be submerged under water.

“The history books tell us that there was strong opposition to the move but the authorities insisted more water was needed to serve Derby, Nottingham, Leicester and Sheffield. Consequently, construction of the dam got underway in 1901.

“How would people feel today if the Government passed an Act of Parliament to put their home under a reservoir?”

As well as the prospect of spying Derbyshire’s answer to Atlantis, tourists are drawn to Ladybower by another intriguing feature.

A giant ‘plughole’ sits at the southern end of the dam. Two fishermen recently caused a stir when they were filmed sailing perilously close to the hole, which sucks water down in a great vortex.

While people joked online that it provides a direct route to Australia, Severn Trent Water, which owns the reservoir, did not see the funny side of the near miss with the spillways.

“If somebody fell in, they would very seriously hurt themselves,” a spokeswoman said. “They would also find themselves stuck because access to the river has a grille, so they would need a professional rescue team to get them out.”

Shaquille O’Neal purchased a black 2025 Land Rover worth a reported $180,000 from an auto broker in Riverside. He paid even more to have it customized for his 7-foot-1 frame.

It was meant to be delivered to Baton Rouge, La., earlier this month but never arrived at its intended destination.

Instead, Shaq’s latest automobile purchase appears to be the “high-value vehicle” that is being investigated as stolen by the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia and thought to be somewhere in Atlanta as of Monday morning.

In a news release last week, the Sheriff’s Office indicated that the vehicle had been “originally ordered through a California-based auto brokerage on behalf of a high-profile client.”

The New York Post was first to report that the client was O’Neal and the company was Riverside’s Effortless Motors. Ahmad Abdelrahman, owner of Effortless Motors, confirmed both facts to The Times during a phone interview.

Abdelrahman said his company had provided O’Neal with numerous customized vehicles over the last two years. He referred to the NBA and Louisiana State legend as “an amazing human being” and said that Effortless Motors was offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the recovery of the vehicle.

“The last guy you want to steal a car from is Shaquille O’Neal, you know?” Abdelrahman said. “I’ve never had this happen to us before. We do all his vehicles. We’ve transported deals for him hundreds of times, and something like this is definitely insane.”

In a statement emailed to The Times on Monday, the Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office said that its criminal investigations division “is actively investigating the theft of a high-value vehicle that was fraudulently removed from a business in the Dahlonega area earlier this month. Investigators have confirmed that the vehicle was transported from a local fabrication business under false pretenses and is believed to have been taken to the Atlanta metropolitan area.”

The department added that multiple search warrants had been obtained and executed as part of the investigation and several people of interest had been identified.

Abdelrahman told The Times that O’Neal’s Land Rover was customized locally by Effortless Motors but was supposed to have additional fabrication work done in Georgia before completing its trip to Louisiana.

After learning that the vehicle never arrived in Baton Rouge, Abdelrahman said, he contacted the company he had hired to ship the vehicle, FirstLine Trucking LLC, and was told that “their system was hacked.”

“They never got our order,” Abdelrahman said he was told, “and the hackers intercepted the vehicle and picked it up, and they vanished with the car.”

FirstLine Trucking did not immediately respond to messages from The Times. O’Neal has not publicly commented on the matter.

THE dad of a missing schoolboy – who vanished 18 years ago – has revealed how cops initially pointed the finger at him before coming up with a bizarre second theory.

Kevin Gosden claims he was told by investigators Andrew, 14, could have become a jihadi fighter and fled the UK due to some books he’d checked out from the library for a school project.

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Andrew vanished without a trace after skipping school and taking a train from his hometown of Doncaster to London on September 14 2007.

Weeks later, detectives were able to track down CCTV showing the teenager in King’s Cross station – but from there the trail has run cold.

In December 2021, two men were arrested on suspicion of kidnap and human trafficking, but police confirmed no further action was being taken in September 2023.

Dad Kevin has told The Sun how in the early weeks of the investigation, officers put the family through “traumatising” questioning in which he claims the finger was pointed at him for possible murder.

“They only wanted to get hold of the station CCTV to prove he wasn’t buried in the back garden,” Kevin said. 

Asked if cops ever directly accused him of killing Andrew, he added: “That was their assumption. They’re really good at inventing stories.”

At one point Kevin and wife Glenys went to a meeting with investigators in which it was proposed their son may have become a jihadi – which refers to armed militant Islamic movements that seek to establish states based on Islamic principles.

Kevin said: “They came up with some really bizarre ideas. 

“He’d taken out some books from the library about Islam and they’d come up with the idea that perhaps he was joining some sort of jihadi group. 

“We had this meeting and got back in the car – we looked at each other and said ‘is that the most ridiculous thing you’ve heard in your life?’ 

“He was doing a school project.” 

Kevin said the jihadi theory was an example of “this horrible spiral, that was entirely unhelpful and non-productive”. 

He said it was extremely frustrating dealing with cops in the early weeks and months of the investigation.

“They’d come up with something insanely unlikely, that it was laughable,” he explained. “It really wasn’t good in 2007, at the beginning.”

He felt such lines of enquiry seemed to be distracting from following more obvious leads and when detectives finally did try to track down CCTV, much of the footage had already been wiped.

Investigators questioned both of Andrew’s parents, and older sister Charlotte prior to releasing the station video, a month after the disappearance.

Describing his own interrogation, Kevin said: “I did get the good cop bad cop routine.” 

He added: “A couple of officers involved were in our house for five minutes, 10 minutes… 

“They turned to us and said ‘how did you discipline him?’ 

“We said ‘we didn’t, we never had problems with him’.” 

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Referring to the family’s treatment, he said: “It’s wrong. I still have no idea what they said to Charlotte. 

“She came back (from police questioning) really shaken and said ‘just don’t ask because what they asked me was disgusting’, so we can guess.”

He continued: “There were too many statistics and assumptions.

“They traumatised all three of us, but just because I’m a man I got the worst of it. 

“It was so off beam and so wrong, that it did end up with a suicide attempt because I just thought we’re never going to find him like this, I just need to be out of the way because clearly they’ve got this idea in their head.

“I know it’s not true but they’re never going to find him if that’s where they’re putting their time and resources.”

Referring to the idea he or anyone else in the family had hurt Andrew, Kevin went on to say: “I said to them more than once, if you find him, you can ask him and he’ll tell you it’s rubbish. 

“You’ve asked my daughter and my wife, the neighbours, his teachers, school friends and you’ll have come across no hint that there was ever a problem.”

‘All we can hope is something comes up’

Andrew, if he’s still alive, would be 32 now. 

Kevin said: “All we can hope is that something comes up and someone volunteers something and remembers something, anonymously if necessary, and gives us something revolutionary.”

The dad-of-two, 59, is currently refurbishing the family home, including repainting Andrew’s old bedroom, which is adorned with photos of the then-schoolboy.

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Kevin said: “It never gets any damn easier… nightmares and flashbacks overnight. I finally get to sleep and I’m like ‘how have I woken up at one in the afternoon?’”

The refurbishment is addressing “all the stuff I haven’t paid notice to for the last 30 years”, he explained. 

Asked if keeping his mind occupied has helped him to process what happened to Andrew, he said: “I don’t know about processing things. It never gets any easier. 

“I’ve never made the mental illness stuff a secret.”

Kevin attempted suicide early in the search for Andrew, saying he was tipped over the edge by cops implying he was involved in his son’s disappearance. 

It never gets any damn easier… nightmares and flashbacks overnight. I finally get to sleep and I’m like ‘how have I woken up at one in the afternoon?

Kevin GosdenMissing Andrew’s dad

“Sadly, I had reached the conclusion that it isn’t going to get any better.”

He left his job at the NHS after Andrew disappeared and was doing part-time cleaning work before being made redundant. 

In November, when he turns 60, Kevin is due a “big payout” from the NHS, having been employed there for 20 years. 

He said keeping himself occupied with any little projects is essential.

“I know an awful amount of people retiring, I can’t,” he admitted. “All of this distracts.

“Since Andrew disappeared, my concentration, memory, all that stuff… mood and anxiety in particular, it paralyses your brain.

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“All of that has been constant so I struggle to think straight. 

“Things like refurbishing, you have to pay enough attention on it to not ruminate on things. I have several little projects on the go.”

He went on to say: “I do most days wake up in a bit of a panic, thinking I need to get this done, I need to get that done. 

“My wife goes, ‘you never sit still’. You propel yourself into doing stuff with far too much anxiety behind it and rush it. That tends to be how it goes. 

“You get the days when depression will kick in and I just can’t do anything. It’s constantly tough.

“Every day it is a struggle. Partly I just keep doing these things, you have to persevere, or I do, just to keep going. As opposed to giving up.”

Sick trolls posting fake updates

Most recently, Kevin and his family have been forced to consult with police over sick clickbait articles falsely claiming that Andrew has been found, or further CCTV footage has been unearthed, and some include falsified statements from his loved ones.

“That’s been causing me a lot of anxiety,” said Kevin. “What I worry about is, you just don’t want to end up going through the same thing Nicola Bulley’s family went through.”

Nicola Bulley was a mum-of-two young children who vanished aged 45 in January 2023 during a dog walk in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, before her body was found weeks later in the river.

However, the search for the mum saw a media frenzy, with TikTokers and other social influencers flooding the scene and some spreading misinformation online.

Kevin has been alerted to countless possible sightings of Andrew over the years, and at one stage the family had age progression images done showing what he might look like now.

“One of my fears is I could walk past him in the street, if he’s alive,” he said. 

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“He might have grown a beard, he would look so different. You worry you could trip over him in the street and have no idea.”

Asked what he believes became of Andrew, Kevin said he, his wife and daughter have “fluctuated on this for years”.

He continued: “None of us can imagine that the Andrew we knew would not have made some kind of contact at some point because we never fell out, we never argued. 

“It still boils down to we’re still absolutely clueless, but that makes us think he probably isn’t alive but that makes you think how come we’ve never found remains and no one ever saw him or noticed anything. 

“It turns around in your head and you can never come to any definite conclusion, which is the whole problem with ambiguous loss and why the mental health issues never resolved.”

He added: “We try to maintain hope, there’s that little voice in your head that says someone somewhere must know something, surely.”

Kevin said it would be easier, in a sense, if it could be proven either way what happened to his son.

“If we had a bag of bones or something that would be incredibly tough, and obviously would raise a whole lot of other questions as to how we’ve ended up with that,” he said. 

“It’s a double-edged sword, it’s the answer you just don’t want to know. But on the other hand, it feels like knowing would be better than not knowing.”

Andrew went missing at a time before the smart phones craze, the first iPhone was released the same year as his disappearance, and he didn’t even have a mobile.

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Kevin said: “You are going back to the days of a lot less social media and internet. People weren’t carrying around a computer in their pocket the whole time.”

However, he said the fact that it appeared to go “pear-shaped” when trying to retrieve further CCTV at one of Europe’s most heavily surveillanced areas, “is still rather upsetting”.

Kevin said he and his family told investigators, after witnesses came forward, that King’s Cross was unlikely to be Andrew’s final destination as it’s a “transport exchange with links to everywhere”.

But he said the sluggish start meant the golden window of collecting evidence within the first 48 hours was missed.

He said there seemed to be a lack of communication between South Yorkshire Police, with the Met and British Transport Police.

Kevin said: “It’s worth saying that policing is still inconsistent when looking for a missing person, but it is very much improved. 

“I’m pretty sure every police force has a dedicated team for missing persons now. Things are done a lot better now.”

Andrew’s disappearance

Looking back to the time Andrew disappeared, Kevin said it was a Friday and they weren’t certain he’d gone missing until the Monday morning.

The family spoke to train station staff, including a woman who said she’d sold the schoolboy a one-way ticket.

They then trekked down to London and began putting up posters in any places they thought Andrew might have been.

They have relatives in the capital and he had been on trips there before.

“A couple of commuters saw posters we put up and said ‘we sat on the same carriage’ and we established he got to King’s Cross,” Kevin said.

The dad had also rung around Andrew’s friends and local hospitals, and even considered his son may have gone to Whitby, another place he liked.

“Our gut instinct was right,” he continued. “We were saying to police ‘we know he went to King’s Cross, most likely he got a train because he was most familiar with that transport’.

“The point is, it took them 27 days or something to get the CCTV of him walking out of King’s Cross station, which is what we were saying he would probably do from the start.”

But Kevin said he doesn’t believe cops at the time wanted to believe Andrew had simply gone missing, and rather the attention turned to something more sinister involving the family.

He said: “There were potential sightings that sounded quite plausible but the police weren’t following those up. 

“They weren’t liaising with the Met and then it’s six weeks later and they’re saying ‘the CCTV’s been overwritten’, that was frustrating at the time.”

Kevin and Andrew’s other loved ones still have no idea why the schoolboy even decided to skip school and head down south. 

“This is why it was a complete shock to us,” Kevin said. “It never occurred to us that he would go missing at all.

“The whole thing was awful and I can’t remember how many days, weeks it was and when certain events occurred. 

“It was such a blur. You’re in such a state of panic. We were all three of us very traumatised by the fact of the matter that Andrew had disappeared and we had no clue why.”

At the time, there were theories Andrew had perhaps travelled down for a gig or to meet up with friends, and would suddenly turn up.

“He was going to do something that he knew we wouldn’t want him to do – just doing whatever it was,” said Kevin. 

“He maybe thought ‘I can always get to my grandparents or my uncle’s and I’ll face the music later on and they’ll have a chance to calm down.’

“We thought he’d show up somewhere and say ‘I’ve done something foolish and I need a bit of help’. It just never happened,” said Kevin.

Other theories suggested Andrew had been groomed online and had headed down to London where he was trafficked.

Kevin said: “There’s no evidence, not one shred of evidence.”

Instead, he believes it was as simple as Andrew skipped school to do something in London he knew his parents otherwise wouldn’t be happy about, and he came across the wrong people.

“That’s what my gut has always said, really,” Kevin admitted. “We brought both kids up to think for themselves and be independent and they were both extremely capable, more than.

“Andrew was exceptionally gifted academically, so he could be lost in deep thought.

“He was insanely intelligent, but you wouldn’t have put him in the hanging round street corners and being streetwise category.”

He added: “One day, we hope that we’ll find out what happened.”

DCI Andy Knowles, of South Yorkshire Police, who has led the investigation in recent years, told The Sun: “I’m in regular contact with the Gosden family and I’m incredibly grateful for their support as we work together to answer the questions which have remained unanswered for so long. 

“We carefully consider any information received ensuring it is recorded, catalogued and, where there are reasonable lines of enquiry, it is pursued.”

COPS are desperately hunting a woman and an eight-year-old girl who vanished more than three weeks ago.

Sally-Jean, 37, was last seen with eight-year-old Ava in Tilehurst, Reading on August 25.

The pair were reported missing on Monday with a frantic search for them launched immediately.

Police said they are “extremely concerned” for the safety of the woman and the youngster and are appealing for the public’s help finding them.

Ava is described as black with an afro hairstyle while Sally-Jean is white, about 5ft 4in tall, with long brown hair, green eyes and tattoos.

Sally-Jean has links to Reading, Caversham and Tilehurst and has one large and distinctive tattoo on her right lower arm, cops said.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of either Sally-Jean or Ava is asked to contact Thames Valley Police as a matter of urgency.

Inspector Iain Watkinson said: “We are extremely concerned for the welfare of Sally-Jean and Ava and we have been working hard to find them since they were reported missing on Monday.

“We are now appealing for the public’s help.

“Anyone with information on their whereabouts should call 101 or make a report on our website.”

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CCTV has been released showing the last time a British round-the-world sailor was seen before he disappeared.

James Nunan, 34, was five months into a global solo sailing trip when he mysteriously vanished on August 18.

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James from Reading, better-known to family and friends as Jemsie, had been at the pub, Paddy’s Anchor, in the island capital Las Palmas.

Hours later, he vanished after going for a late-night snack at the kebab shop six minutes away from the pub.

Spanish cops have now released an image of James, in their desperate attempt to locate him.

He is pictured ordering food at the kebab joint wearing a blue T-shirt with his Jack Russell on his lap.

In one photograph, three diners appear to be enjoying a meal behind him as he stands at the checkout.

It comes as official records show James reported his passport as lost or stolen at the Irish Embassy on August 19 – a day after he was last seen or heard from.

At the time, his half-sister Nikita said: “We know he’d had a drink but as a family we don’t believe he would recklessly set sail in the dark at night,” she said.

“It doesn’t make sense for it to be ‘oh he fell overboard’ because he was drunk, there are a lot of holes in the story.” 

Paddy’s Anchor previously shared appeals by James’ worried family on social media saying: “Many of you have been asking, so we want to share this post from Jemsie’s family.

“His sister is still searching for him after he was last seen here in Las Palmas.

“His boat has since been found off the coast of Gran Canaria, but there has been no contact from him since.”

A call was made between August 24 and 25 in relation to James’ boat as police found it a day later 50 miles offshore.

At first they said James’ Jack Russell, known as Thumbelina, wasn’t on board but later said she was found with the boat.

There remains no information on where James could be.

A witness came forward to claim he spoke to James as he said the Brit was drunk but not acting in any unusual manner.

He had reportedly told him about his sailing adventures and that he planned to head to Lanzarote.

Some pub staff also claimed they were told not to speak to anyone about his mysterious disappearance.

A man reportedly answered phone calls at the pub saying: “It’s an open investigation and we’ve been told not to speak to anyone and I’ve just got to go with that I’m afraid.”

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Asked if it was local police or Mr Nunan’s family who had asked him not to speak, he said: “I can’t talk about it, sorry.”

After his boat was found with the dog on board, it was towed back to Argineguin in the south of Gran Canaria.

A spokesperson for the Civil Guard said: “We are looking into this case. Several lines of investigation are being pursued.”

Jemsie had been about five-and-a-half months into his solo sailing trip when he vanished – and had been planning to travel to Brazil.

Nikita added that a distress signal was sent out in relation to his boat between August 24 and 25.

The dog found on board has since been taken to an animal shelter.

Jemsie’s father has travelled to the island searching for any signs of the missing 34-year-old. 

The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office has confirmed it is “supporting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Spain“.

The National Police in Las Palmas and court officials on the island have been approached for comment.

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COPS have launched an urgent hunt for a 49-year-old woman who went missing from a popular seaside town.

Claire Bennett was last heard from at around 1.30pm on Monday after vanishing in Cornwall.

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Claire, who is from St Austell, is believed to be in the Truro area according to cops.

She is described as a white female, around 5ft 10ins and of slim build, police said.

Claire is also said to have blonde hair which is usually worn down.

Cops confirmed she was last seen wearing a white top and blue shorts.

Searches and enquiries are ongoing, but the force are appealing for anyone who has seen Claire or knows where she is to get in touch.

Anyone who sees Claire or knows of her whereabouts is asked to contact police on 999 quoting log 610 of 11 August.

Issuing a plea to her mum, Claire’s daughter told PlymouthLive: “Mum, if you read this please come home. We aren’t mad at you and we all bloody love you!

“You win at hide and seek. Just even send me a message to tell me you’re ok.

“We can get through this. I promise. I love you.”

Claire’s daughter said her mum was “classed as a high-risk missing person”, according to the outlet.

Her daughter also claimed that items belonging to Claire had been found, reports the outlet.

She said: “We found a bag we believe to be hers at the park by the viaduct In Truro.

“We were asked not to continue looking on foot for her due to the police dogs and scents etc.”

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THE remains of a Brit researcher who died in Antarctica have been discovered nearly six decades after a tragic accident.

Dennis “Tink” Bell, at the time 25, fell into a crevasse during an Antarctic mission – leaving his devastated family unable to repatriate his body.

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Dennis’s body was never recovered until January 29 – when a team of Polish researchers from the Henryk Arctowski Polish Antarctic Station stumbled upon bones later confirmed to be his.

His brother, David Bell, told the BBC: “I had long given up on finding my brother. It is just remarkable, astonishing. I can’t get over it.”

Born in 1934, Dennis worked with the RAF and trained as a meteorologist before joining the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey – later renamed the British Antarctic Survey.

In 1958, he began a two-year posting at the UK base in Admiralty Bay, Antarctica.

His main role was to send up weather balloons and radio the data back to the UK every three hours – work that meant firing up a generator in brutal sub-zero conditions.

The base sat on King George Island – around 75 miles off the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula.

Archivist Ieuan Hopkins from the British Antarctic Survey unearthed detailed reports describing work on the “ridiculously isolated” island.

One report described Dennis as “cheerful and industrious, with a mischievous sense of humour and fondness for practical jokes”.

He was said to have loved the husky dogs that pulled sledges around the island and was known as the hut’s best cook – often managing the food store through the long winter when no supplies could get in.

The fatal accident happened just weeks after his 25th birthday, while Dennis was surveying King George Island to help map the terrain.

On July 26 1959 – deep in the Antarctic winter – Dennis and his colleague and pal Jeff Stokes had climbed and surveyed a glacier.

Dennis was encouraging the weary dogs but wasn’t wearing his skis when he suddenly vanished into a crevasse, according to British Antarctic Survey accounts.

Jeff shouted down to him and Dennis was able to call back, grabbing hold of a rope lowered in a rescue attempt.

The dogs pulled at the rope, hauling Dennis – who had attached it to his belt – up towards the edge of the hole.

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But tragically, the belt broke and Dennis fell back into the crevasse.

When Jeff called out again, Dennis didn’t reply.

David Bell recalled how, in July 1959, a telegram boy knocked on the door of the Bells’ family home in Harrow, London to deliver the devastating news of Dennis’ death.

He said two men from Dennis’s base later visited the family and brought a sheepskin as a gesture of sympathy.

“But there was no conclusion. There was no service; there was no anything. Just Dennis gone,” David says.

David described feeling overwhelmed by the news and expressed his gratitude to the Polish researchers who found his remains.

“I’m just sad my parents never got to see this day,” he said.

David, who lives in Australia, plans to visit England with his sister Valerie so they can lay their beloved brother to rest.

“It’s wonderful; I’m going to meet my brother. You might say we shouldn’t be thrilled, but we are,” David said.

“He’s been found – he’s come home now.”

Professor Dame Jane Francis, Director of the British Antarctic Survey, paid tribute to Dennis: “Dennis was one of the many brave personnel who contributed to the early science and exploration of Antarctica under extraordinarily harsh conditions.

“Even though he was lost in 1959, his memory lived on among colleagues and in the legacy of polar research.”

Since 1944, 29 people have died working in the British Antarctic Territory on scientific missions, according to the British Antarctic Monument Trust.

Among them were Alan Sharman and Russell Thompson, who also died in 1959.

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POLICE have issued CCTV footage in the hopes of finding a woman who went missing three months ago.

Portia Vincent-Kirby, 33, disappeared on February 21 at around 8.45pm after seeing friends in Hyde Park, London.

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Portia was reported missing on March 13, prompting police to begin trawling CCTV footage in a bid to trace her

The last confirmed sighting of her was at the Blind Beggar pub in Whitechapel on Friday March 14.

Portia, who is single and lives alone in a flat in North Finchley, is described as slim with blue eyes and shoulder-length dyed blonde hair, but often wears a baseball cap.

The sociable, outgoing young woman ran as the Green Party candidate for Hendon, North London, in 2019 – with her brother saying “she’s not the kind of person who just vanishes“.

Her family are urging her to contact them, after it was revealed by police her phone and bank cards have not been used in weeks.

Her mum, Janina said: “We are all very worried as Portia is very vulnerable.

“Portia has not been in contact with or seen by any family or friends since February.

“We appeal to the public for anyone to please come forward if they know anything about her or her whereabouts.

“We also appeal to Portia directly, please get in touch with any of your family or friends.”

PC Harjinder Kang, from the Met’s north west missing persons unit, added: “We are growing increasingly concerned for Portia’s safety, as this behaviour is out of character for her.

“We urge anyone who may have seen her to contact police.

“Officers have been carrying out a number of enquiries in an effort to trace her and we are now turning to the public for help.

“Please get in touch if you can help us locate Portia.”

Speaking previously, her brother Max, 31, said: “She’s got a master’s degree, she’s an intelligent girl, she’s not the kind of person who just vanishes.

“It’s like she’s dropped off the face of the earth.

He added: “She is very much her own person, but she has lots of friends.

“We reported her missing on March 13 after we realised none of her friends had seen her in weeks.

“The police were then able to look at her bank cards and phone, they can check when it was last used unlike using the ticks on Whatsapp to see if messages were delivered.

“They found out that they hadn’t been used for nearly three weeks, since the start of March.

“Who doesn’t need money for nearly three weeks? Even if you’d met someone you’d go out and get coffee or something, it just doesn’t make sense.”

4

Portia also has strong links to Medway, where she is from.

Police would urge anyone with information on her whereabouts to call police on 101 or anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111, quoting 01/7262039/25.