A gruesome claim that a teenage murder victim’s body was minced up into takeaway kebabs has undermined attempts to catch her killer for years, a new compelling Daily Mail podcast has found.
Charlene Downes, 14, vanished without a trace from her home town of Blackpool more than two decades ago.
Police believe she was killed by men who had been grooming and sexually abusing her in the Lancashire seaside resort.
But, despite a £100,000 police reward for information leading to the conviction her killer, no-one has ever been brought to justice.
Now, ahead of Saturday’s 22nd anniversary of her disappearance, a new eight-part Daily Mail podcast, hosted by actress and campaigner Nicola Thorp, reveals testimony that has debunked the kebab theory once and for all.
Charlene Downes, 14, vanished without a trace from her home town of Blackpool more than two decades ago
The ‘evidence’ for how Charlene’s body was disposed ‘does not exist’ and is ‘not true’, the senior investigating officer admits in an exclusive interview with the series, scheduled for release today.
Nicola, who appeared on Coronation Street as Nicola Rubinstein, secret daughter of soap villain Pat Phelan, was born at the same time as Charlene, and raised less than a mile away from her Blackpool home.
She says that not only is the ‘Kebab girl’ story a ‘false and damaging narrative’, but it has also been a dangerous distraction from the task of finding her murderer.
As part of her landmark investigation, Charlene: Somebody Knows Something, Nicola has interviewed key figures in the long-running case – including one of the original suspects, plus the schoolgirl’s friends and family.
She has also spoken to witnesses whose voices have been ignored or unheard for decades, revealing potentially crucial new leads.
Nicola hopes these will finally help Charlene’s friends and family get answers and fulfil their long-running campaign for justice.
Charlene – described as a ‘bubbly, cheeky teenager with an infectious smile’ – was last seen on the evening of November 1, 2003, by her mother, Karen, who was handing out leaflets for an Indian restaurant in the town.
Charlene promised her mother she wouldn’t be home late, but never returned, and two days later Mrs Downes reported her missing.
Initially, the family say, police did not take the missing persons’ report seriously.
However, that changed when officers uncovered evidence linking Charlene to a network of grooming gangs.
It later emerged that up to 60 schoolgirls as young as 11 were being offered food, alcohol and cigarettes in return for sexual favours by workers at seedy takeaways.
Jordanian kebab shop owner Iyad Albattikhi and landlord Mohammed Raveshi – originally from Iran – became the prime suspects in Charlene’s murder, but no physical evidence linked them to the crime.
Ahead of the 22nd anniversary of Charlene’s disappearance, a new Daily Mail podcast, hosted by campaigner Nicola Thorp (pictured), reveals testimony that debunks the kebab theory
Nicola (pictured), who appeared on Coronation Street as Nicola Rubinstein, was born at the same time as Charlene, and raised less than a mile away from her Blackpool home
Instead detectives were authorised to secretly bug Mr Raveshi’s house and car, recording hours of conversations between the two men.
Mr Albattikhi, then 29, was eventually charged with Charlene’s murder, while 50-year-old Mr Raveshi was accused of helping to dispose of the body.
Prosecutors sensationally alleged they killed her and got rid of her remains using a mincing machine, before putting it into takeaway kebabs.
The men’s trial at Preston Crown Court, in 2007, focused on painstakingly compiled transcripts of their conversations, including an apparent discussion about killing Charlene.
But the recordings of their conversations, in heavily-accented voices, were difficult to make-out and some were barely audible over the sound of a nearby television.
Jurors failed to reach a verdict on either man, and after a retrial also collapsed over what the police watchdog branded ‘a catalogue of errors,’ they were both awarded £250,000 in compensation.
The podcast discusses how the police’s claim that one of the men was recorded saying: ‘why did you kill her’, has been disputed by different expert forensic audiologists, who fail to even agree on who is saying what in the recordings.
Speaking to the podcast, Detective Superintendent Gareth Willis is unequivocal.
‘The evidence around the covert material that was relied upon in court has been fatally undermined and is not accurate, is not truthful,’ the senior investigating officer tells Nicola.
‘So we all acknowledge that that evidence does not exist.
‘It’s been reviewed independently, and what was documented as being fact is, in fact, not true.’
Nicola says: ‘If my investigation for this podcast achieves anything, I hope it brings an end to this false and damaging narrative.
‘Not just because it’s a lie, but because a missing 14-year-old girl, a victim of child sexual abuse, deserves more than being reduced to a piece of meat in a headline.’
The first two episodes of Charlene: Somebody Knows Something are available right now wherever you get your podcasts – or get the whole series immediately at www.thecrimedesk.com.
