19 June 2024 , 15:49
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Like any other ordinary day, Leah Croucher set off from her family home in Milton Keynes on February 15, 2019, but she never made it to work.
The 19-year-old had gone missing without a trace and it wasn't until three years later that her body was found in the loft of a home located just minutes from where she was last sighted. At the time of her disappearance, the property was being looked after by a registered sex offender, who killed himself two months after Leah vanished.
The young woman, described by her family as "witty, quiet and instantly likeable," was a black belt in martial arts and competed internationally, and it is thought she tried to defend herself in an attack before being murdered. Five years on, the inquest into her death has finally commenced, taking place over the next two days, which should give the family closure as to what really happened that February morning.
Leah's remains were tragically discovered three years after her disappearance (Thames Valley Police / SWNS)Her mum and dad last saw their teenage daughter at their home on Quantock Crescent at 10pm the night before, on February 14. She had told them she was going out to meet a friend earlier that evening, however this wasn't the case, police found.
They also discovered at around 5.45pm, Leah had changed the settings on her mobile phone, potentially disabling her location services. Where she did go, or whom she met with that evening, remains a mystery.
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The next morning, Leah, wearing a black coat, black skinny jeans, black Converse trainers and a grey hooded top - bearing the 'Stewartby Taekwondo' logo - was spotted on her commute on CCTV. She was captured walking down Buzzacott Lane in Furzton at 8.16am in the direction of her work in Milton Keynes and witnesses say they possibly saw her later walking by Furzton Lake, about half a mile from where she was spotted on camera.
Three witnesses reported seeing a woman of her description on her mobile by the lake, the first said between 9.30am and 10am. The two other witnesses said she was "visibly upset, crying and angry" between 10am and 10.15am. Around 20 minutes later, they saw her again in a calmer state, speaking to someone on the phone.
Her disappearance sparked a massive search operation by Thames Valley Police, who visited 4,000 homes and on February 19, searched Furzton Lake. With still no sign of her, in the October, police searched the Blue Lagoon located in the area but to no avail.
Leah Croucher on CCTV in Buzzacott Lane (PA)By August of the following year, police offered a £10,000 reward for information on the case. And on the second anniversary of her disappearance, police said that the case was "bewildering and frustrating" as there was "no significant lead".
A month later in March 2021, the reward sum doubled to £20,000. It wasn't until October 2022 that police received a phone call from a maintenance worker, who had been trying to eradicate a smell in the property, alerting them to potential evidence at a house on Loxbeare Drive, Milton Keynes - just minutes from where Leah was last seen.
It saw police launch a murder investigation on October 12, 2022, after human remains and a rucksack were found in the loft of the property - which hadn't regularly been lived in amid the coronavirus lockdown. Convicted sex offender, Neil Maxwell, 49, who was found dead in April 2019, was named as the prime suspect by police. By October 21, 2022, police confirmed that the body and the bag belonged to Leah, but the cause of death was unconfirmed.
In the search for the teenager, hundreds of officers were deployed, scouring more than 1,200 hours of CCTV, while specialist teams, including the marine unit, were called in to help find her. Police said they had visited the property where Leah's remains were found twice in 2019 amid their door-to-door enquiries, but there was no answer and leaflets were left.
An aerial view of the rear of a property in Loxbeare Drive, Furzton, Milton Keynes, where he body was found (PA)At the time of Leah's disappearance, Maxwell, who had convictions of sexual offences against women and children, was on the run in connection with a sexual assault in Newport Pagnell in November 2018. He was also the only person to have keys to the property because he was employed by the homeowner, who lived abroad and used it as a holiday home.
Maxwell, whose registered address was three miles away in central Milton Keynes, had the keys to carry out maintenance work. He was found dead on April 20, 2019, in a bike shed a few blocks from his house, after taking his own life. An inquest into his death stated he had left a suicide note, but the contents were not made public.
In the three years of the search operation, Leah's family made many appeals, with her parents John and Claire Croucher saying they were "broken" by not knowing where their daughter was. The couple described their daughter as "a bright, confident and loving 19-year-old who enjoyed fantasy fiction".
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She was "quiet and family orientated." Her sister Jade described her as "a beautiful girl inside and out" with a "personality which people warm to instantly". The inquest into Leah's death opened on January 25, 2023, however it was suspended because of the police investigation.
Sex offender Neil Maxwell (Thames Valley Police / SWNS)
Thames Valley Police issued a computer-generated e-fit image of Neil Maxwell, who was on the run at the time of Leah's disappearance (PA)At the start of the year on January 18, 2024, Thames Valley Police confirmed the investigation had been concluded, however details have not been made public. "As these are active coronial proceedings, it is not appropriate for us to comment further on the investigation until the inquest process has been concluded, so as not to prejudice any findings," a statement said.
Detective Superintendent Kevin Brown, of Thames Valley Police, told an inquest at Milton Keynes Coroner’s Court on Wednesday that he believes on the balance of probabilities, that Ms Croucher was unlawfully killed by Maxwell. He added that his "professional experience and knowledge would suggest Leah would have died very close to the day she went missing, if not on it".
Caroline Haughey KC, representing Ms Croucher’s family, asked if he believed it was "likely to be an unwarranted sexual attack and in fact because of her martial arts ability, she reacted and subsequently died”. Mr Brown said: "I believe she would have defended herself, that may have escalated the situation."