Kevin Hicks was 16 when he popped out to buy some eggs from the local  shops one bitterly cold evening. He never returned home. That was in March 1986 – 21 years ago. He is now aged 37; the age progression pic shows him at 33.

It is the ordinariness of the situations leading up to many disappearances that I find so harrowing. Kevin had earlier enjoyed a Sunday lunch with his family and even helped his dad wash up afterwards at their home in  Addiscombe, Croydon. He later popped out to buy the eggs which he needed for a school exam the next day.

His disappearance has been featured on Crimewatch and extensive police searches have failed to come up with any leads. Every Christmas, Kevin’s father hopes that his son will return. He has never given up hope of being reunited.

Tragically, Kevin’s mother died of a brain tumour at the age of 42 in October 1994, having just made a television appeal for news about her son. Derek still lives in the house Kevin grew up in after his wife asked him never to move away.

In memory of those who are still missing.