Forums Forums Wirral History : Chasing the Past Wirral Now and Then Lad who went missing

Does anyone remember the lad from Wallasey who went missing in the sixties? They found his bike in Rake Lane cemetery.

I know he went to school with one of my younger brothers but am not sure if they ever discovered what happened to him.

Assuming that they never found him, is the case still open? I think he lived somewhere near Mount road?

What was his name?

Hmmm! Was it David McCaig or something like that? Just googled and can't find anything. It was very big story at the time and I can't remember him ever turning up.

shame, sounds interesting.
It would be good if we had a headline to go on.
Could search the news archives then.

'tis a shame. The perpetrator of this disappearance could be reading this very thread...

And then there's this...no one ever caught. Wonder if they pulled down that pillbox?

Got a little more information. It was David McCaig and he would have been 14 or so when he went missing in early 1970. The police reinvestigated his disappearance three years after he went in 1973 but nothing new was found. He has not been traced.

There was some speculation at the time that he could have ended up in an open grave at Rake lane but there was a lot of theories of what might have happened to the lad.

I just find it amazing that it is not mentioned in any books. Surely that one should have been in Murder, Mystery and Mayhem?

I was in school with David at Withensfield Middle school and I remember the police coming in to school to ask questions. It was about1969/70 and I seem to recall that he was in school in the morning went home for his dinner he lived in Dovedale Road and dissapeared on his way back to school thinking on it was 1969 as we were in the old manor road school. It is strange that it is not mentioned anywhere I do recall a tale that he was seen in London but it was never proven.

As kids, we used to play in that pillbox on the railway embankment. Immediate ban on going in there after the murder ! Seem to recall it was only a short time before it was demolished. The concrete base was still visible last time I went past.

Missed this thread the first time round.

I recall the police frogmen searching the pit on Lingham Lane in Moreton looking for David

I remember that two boys stated they found his bike in Rake Lane Cemetery. This led to the police digging up recent graves. The boys later changed their story and said they found the bike in Thirlmere Avenue (I think with his coat) but were scared to tell the police that account as they had ridden the bike before they dumped it in Rake Lane. They thought they would be done for stealing it. The siting in London came from a woman who was a 'trained observer' saying she saw a 'bedraggled boy' on the Liverpool London train who she thought was David. Nothing ever came of that lead.

I've never heard this story before. What a sad story.

The echo ran a story in August this year about the police re-opening the case after a woman claimed her grandfather was the murderer on an internet forum. link to story

Blimey! Wonder where that will end up? There was a house nearbye which always had the curtains drawn and was in a bad state of repair. By the late eighties some locals were convinced taht waqs where he was but the house was bought some time maybe in the 90s and totally renovated with nothing untoward being discovered.