On this day 30 years ago, Damien Nettles left his Gurnard home for a Saturday night out with friends – but he was never seen again.
The 16-year-old left Woodvale Road shortly after 19:00 on Saturday 2nd November 1996. His father drove him to a friend’s home in West Cowes before the teenagers crossed the floating bridge to attend a party in East Cowes.
After leaving the party, Damien and his friend returned to West Cowes and spent time around the town before parting company. Damien is believed to have gone in search of his older sister, Sarah.
At 23:35, CCTV captured him inside Yorkies fish and chip shop in Cowes High Street, where he bought chips and spoke to several men later identified as members of the Army.
Another camera recorded Damien at 00:02 on Sunday 3rd November. It showed him walking to a bus stop and then returning along the High Street alone, eating his chips.
His family positively identified him, but police subsequently lost the only copy of the footage showing his final known movements. Damien was also believed to be carrying a small instant camera which has never been recovered.
In the days that followed, police urgently appealed for a blonde girl, reportedly seen eating chips with Damien shortly before midnight, to come forward. His mother Valerie said he had appeared confused and hoped the girl could explain what he had said and what might have happened next.
Damien’s disappearance was completely out of character. He always telephoned if staying away overnight and his family said he had given no indication that he intended to leave the Island.
They were confident he had not travelled to Suffolk to see his girlfriend Gemma, having spent the half-term holiday with her. His family remember Damien as kind and funny; he taught himself to play the guitar and hoped to study marine biology. He would now be 46.
Police asked residents to inspect sheds and outbuildings while relatives, friends, the harbourmaster, coastguards and members of the community searched Cowes and the surrounding area. No confirmed trace of Damien was found.
The Carisbrooke High School pupil was 6ft 3in tall and of slim build, with short brown hair, brown eyes and a V-shaped scar on his chin. He had been wearing blue jeans, a black fleece-style jacket and black boots.
Theories have ranged from Damien accidentally falling into the sea to claims that he was killed after crossing paths with people connected to Cowes’s drugs scene. Valerie has consistently rejected the suggestion that her son simply fell into the water and believes he may have been beaten to death after getting in the way of people involved with drugs.
No account of what happened has ever been proved. Nobody has been convicted in connection with Damien’s disappearance, and police have repeatedly urged people to report facts rather than repeat rumours.
Information received by police prompted renewed arrests and searches in 2011. A total of 8 people were arrested at different stages, while searches took place near Stag Lane on the Newport–Cowes cycle track and at a property in Marsh Road, Gurnard. Nothing was found which solved the case, and all 8 people were released without charge.
By 2013, police had taken 357 witness statements and processed 2,553 documents, with 1,134 people involved as investigators, witnesses or people of interest. A £20,000 reward generated 30 reports from the public but no new line of enquiry.
Damien’s disappearance was examined in the 2016 BBC Three documentary ‘Unsolved: The Boy Who Disappeared’. Valerie also campaigned for improvements to the handling of missing person cases, while she and Sarah helped drive Missing People’s ‘Missing on a Night Out’ campaign.
Valerie describes the family’s experience as ‘ambiguous loss’ – grief without an answer, a body or an ending. As the 30th anniversary approached, she revealed that she still hangs Damien’s stocking at Christmas and fears she could die without discovering what happened to her son.
Damien’s grandparents and uncle have already died without learning the truth.
Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary says the case remains open and any new credible information will be explored.
Anyone with any information is asked to call Police on 101, quoting reference 44990106843 or Operation Ridgewood. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or through their online anonymous form at Crimestoppers.
