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llaying the table for Christmas dinner after three months His teenage son went missing It was heartbreaking in its own way.
Peter Boxell remembers 25 December 1988 as a day spent with hope, desperate for his son Lee to come home. Trying to turn that hope into reality, he set a place for her at the table. But as darkness fell, the devastating realization set in that Lee would not be coming home. He still hasn’t.
“I was hoping Lee might come home or we might hear from him – obviously I wanted him to come home for Christmas,” Mr Boxell said. Independent“If he had come home we would have had an extra place for him at the table for Christmas dinner, It was just heartbreaking,”
Mr Boxell is among a number of family members who have opened up about how “terrible” it can be to spend Christmas without a missing loved one, because The Independent’s Christmas campaign, secure call, Reached its £165,000 target Launching a new national lifeline for missing youth alongside the charity missing people,
donate Here Or text SAFE to 70577 to give missing people £10 – enough to get one child support.
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thanks to an extraordinary Public support is increasingThe Free, 24/7 service Now set up to reach the more than 70,000 children who go missing in the UK each year, offering support, protection and connection when they need it most.
Campaign goal reached Independent Its Christmas Day front page highlights people who went missing as children or teenagers, and whose families are still searching for them this festive season.
Lee Boxell, who would now be 52, disappeared on September 10, 1988, a typical, hot summer day.
When the sleepy 15-year-old came downstairs in his pajamas at the family home in Cheam, Mr Boxell recalled: “I told Lee where we were all going and asked him if he had any plans. He was just mumbling something, and I thought, ‘Okay, he’s not really awake yet, so I wouldn’t worry about him.’ We then left – and that was the last time I saw Lee.
As darkness fell that evening, and Lee – a “sweet, caring” boy who loved football and never got into trouble – had still not returned home, that the close family began to panic.
“It was like a living nightmare,” Mr Boxell said. “We stayed up all night. We couldn’t sleep, just waiting for the phone to ring or the doorbell to ring, thinking Lee would come home – but nothing.”
A search was launched and appeals were issued, with police taking the case particularly seriously because there was “no reason” for Lee to be missing, Mr Boxell said. His son only had £10 and the clothes he was wearing.
Since that day there have been 37 “very difficult” Christmases.
“Christmas is a difficult time for us because we don’t know if he will come home again or if he is still alive,” Mr Boxell said. “At Christmas we always think about Lee and wonder where he might be, if he is alive, and if he is safe and well.
“But fortunately, I have a daughter, and she has given us two lovely grandchildren.
“My grandson, in particular, reminds me a lot of my son. When he was little, I used to call him Lee – I couldn’t help it.”
Deirdre Fenech’s daughter Carmel went missing in 1998, with the 16-year-old daughter last seen at Camberwell Green Magistrates Court in London.
The three decades that followed have been horrific for the family, and Ms Fenech said Christmas was one of the hardest times.
“It is very difficult,” she said. “The first few years, I was still buying gifts, and we’d put them under the tree, and we’d leave them there.”
Every year, Ms. Fenech said, Carmel’s family will add to the pile. “I couldn’t stop looking at them, and in the end, I gave them all. Now, I don’t buy anything. I just think that if she comes home at Christmas, she doesn’t need a pile of gifts under the tree. I’ll take her inside and buy her whatever she wants.”
Natasha Walker’s sister, Katrice Lee, disappeared from a supermarket on her second birthday in 1981. That first Christmas, her family wrapped gifts and put them under the tree in case she came home.
Since then, Ms Walker said, Christmas has been a particularly painful time.
“It’s really, really hard,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking because you can see other people’s families celebrating, and although you are celebrating, you still have one person missing.
“I’ll never forget Catrice. There’ll never be a time when I wake up on Christmas Day and think, ‘Oh my God, I wish she was here with me.'”
Ms Walker said Katrice’s birthday and the anniversary of her disappearance both fall close to Christmas, which increases her heartache at this time of year. “It’s always very sad,” she said.
“My father will light a candle for Catrice every Christmas Eve, and I usually light a candle for Catrice.
“It’s really hard because there’s one person missing – you’re not sharing the joys and gifts of Christmas.”
In a message to other families who are celebrating Christmas without a missing loved one, Mr Boxell said: “I think they should try to enjoy Christmas as much as possible for the sake of their other family members… [and] Trying to think of the good times with your loved one who is missing. I think that’s all they can really do. We had a great time with our son.
Mr Boxell, who has been involved with Missing People since its inception and is a Long-time member of the charity’s choiralso lent its support behind the SafeCall campaign.
“I think SafeCall is a fantastic idea, especially for young people who are thinking they might have to leave home, or if they’ve already left home,” he said. “If they could call the charity, that would be a lot of help. It would be someone to talk to. They would help keep them safe, because it’s a dangerous world out there.”
Along with the generosity of our readers, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer He lent his support to the campaign by joining the actor and writer sir stephen fryCampaigner Dame Esther Rantzen, former England football captain sir david beckham and presenter Lorraine Kelly, Independent Fundraising for the cause will continue in the new year to raise vital funds to help run the new helpline once the service is operational.
Please Donate Now The Independent and Missing People’s SafeCall campaign, which has raised £165,000 to create a free, nationwide service to help vulnerable children find safety and support.
If you or a loved one is missing, text or call the charity Missing People on 116000 for advice, support and options. It’s free, confidential and non-judgmental. or visit missingpeople.org.uk/get-help