Questions are being asked about notorious unsolved child death tragedies after a killer died in prison. It comes as a damning verdict was given after the death of Solihull child killer Brian Field.
"If Hell exists, it has a new resident". That was the opinion of a criminologist after the 87-year-old was found dead in prison.
Field was convicted of the murder a 14-year-old boy but was linked to several other unsolved cases in the Midlands. Respected Birmingham criminologist Prof David Wilson, who made Channel 4 documentary about Field, came to a chilling conclusion: "We could be uncovering one of the worst serial killers of children this country has ever known," reports BirminghamLive.
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Field sexually assaulted and then killed Roy Tutill who was 14, after he accepted a lift from him. But he was not brought to justice for his crime for three decades even as he served time for other vile crimes against boys.
He was finally caught after a routine drink-driving stop in Birmingham in 1999 led to a DNA match between Field and a sample recovered from Roy's trousers. He was jailed for life at the Old Bailey in November 2001.
However, many suspect he took secrets to the grave with him as Field has been widely linked to the disappearance on Boxing Day 1996 of Chelmsley Wood friends Patrick Warren, 13, and 11-year-old David Spencer - as well as the unsolved murder of Birmingham schoolboy Mark Billington in 1984.
He was questioned about both. Bernard McEldowney, a retired West Midlands Police inspector who was based in Solihull, told BirminghamLive: "Even though Field has passed away, the police investigation doesn't stop. You have to get closure for the families. Even if it was him and he's dead, if you can even say to the family it was him - it's peace of mind for them."
Speaking about the disappearance of Patrick and David, he said: "The boy's bodies were never found so that must be horrifying for the families, not to know what happened to them when they went missing. I think he was cold-hearted, a psychopath, narcissist. He wouldn't have any humanity. He lacked that compassion for the families."
David Spencer and Patrick Warren
The two boys went missing from Chelmsley Wood on Boxing Day, 1996. They were reported missing first thing the following day.
A red Apollo bike, Patrick's prized Christmas gift, was later found at the back of a petrol station. The pair became known as the 'Milk Carton Kids' after their photos appeared on milk cartons during nationwide appeals.
When the schoolboys disappeared, the police were accused of not taking the case seriously due to the working-class background of the boys. West Midlands Police re-opened the case in 2006 under the name Operation Stenley. Field was quizzed then, but the paedophile always denied any involvement in the disappearances.
He had been living near Patrick and David's homes in Rowood Drive, Solihull - working as a gardener and odd-job man - and was a regular drinker at pubs in the area when they went missing. The Channel 4 documentary In The Footsteps of Killers also claimed that Patrick and David had been seen in the company of Field days before they vanished.
Prof Wilson said: “We’ve always been concerned there was no ‘noise’ on the night the boys disappeared. But if the boys knew Field prior to Boxing Day night when they disappeared, that’s why no one hears anyone scream, or shout - or try to fight.”
Mark Billington
An inquest initially recorded an open verdict in 1998 into the death of Mark Billington. But police reviewed the case and reclassified it as a murder investigation. The boy's murderer has never been caught and his family have said previously that the killer could have been Field.
Back in 2021, they begged police to interview Field again "before it's too late." They said Field was a "good suspect" as he lived a ten-minute walk from where Mark was last seen. He had also been released from jail months before Mark vanished.
The case featured in Prof Wilson's documentary. Mark's sister Cheryl said: "Mark was a kind gentle brother.
"He loved children, especially playing with us and the other children - my mum was childminding at the time. He loved animals and pottering in his shed down the bottom of the garden.
"He was my big brother who took care of me. As a family we just want justice for him."
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