A mobile police unit has been set up today as the police investigation into a 25 year –old missing person inquiry – reclassified only last week as a murder- took a dramatic twist.
Police are in Stocking Fen Road, Ramsey, searching for clues that they hope will lead to the discovery of what happened to Andrew Bedford, a Huntingdon father who was 27 when he disappeared.
The decision to turn the missing person case into a murder inquiry was announced on Friday on what would have been Andrew’s 52nd birthday.
He was last sighted at 6.30pm on Friday, September 28, 1990, at Factory Bank in Ramsey.
Despite a huge search, including helicopters, tracker dogs, specialist divers, a nationwide poster campaign and a reconstruction on the CrimeStoppers programme, no trace of Andrew of Tweed Street, Huntingdon, has ever been found.
Detective Inspector Ian Simmons, who is leading the investigation by the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Major Crime Unit, codenamed Operation Ongar, said: “Having reviewed the circumstances of Andrew’s disappearance and given that nearly 25 years have passed, we are now confident he is dead and was murdered.”
Detectives believe Andrew was killed on the Friday evening with a shotgun at a garage called Mongrel Cars in Ramsey, which no longer exists.
His girlfriend at the time, Clara Webb, was expecting him home between 5?6pm on the Friday after collecting his and a friend’s wages, but he never turned up.
There was speculation at the time that he had been a victim of a gangland murder, kidnap or had gone in to hiding. Three suspects were also questioned, but released without charge and the prime suspect for the shooting is now dead.
“We want to speak to anyone who has any information about Mr Bedford’s disappearance and death,” said DI Simmons. “We would particularly like to speak to people who came forward at the time, but maybe did not tell us everything they knew.”
Andrew who worked as a labourer was described as 5ft 8in, of medium build with mousey-blond, curly, shoulder-length hair and had a number of tattoos. He was wearing overalls, a khaki jumper, jeans and trainers, and was spotted in a light blue Ford Cortina on the night in question.
INFORMATION: Anyone with any information regarding the case should contact the Major Crime Unit on 101 or anonymously at Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.
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