Andrew Gerald Elphick

Andrew Elphick disappeared on 23 August 1991 and was considered murdered in 1995.

His car was found abandoned on the Northborough Estate in Slough with its keys still in the ignition on the morning he disappeared. His brother said that Andrew Elphick was very proud of his car and said that he wouldn't let anyone smoke in it and would never have left it unattended with its keys in the ignition for anyone to have taken. His car was a silver Vauxhall Nova GTE saloon with the registration number H161 GPJ.

He lived in Woking but was from Normandy near Guildford.

Shortly after his disappearance, the police said that they got an anonymous call telling them that his body was near a lake in Slough, but the police said that they didn't find anything.

His brother said that he was successful with the ladies, confident and outgoing and was always thinking of ways that he could make money. However, he said that Andrew Elphick wasn't as streetwise as he might have thought he was, and that he might have been a little over-confident in that area and that that might have got him into trouble in some way.

Andrew Elphick was a relief manager for Moss Bross, the men's clothing chain.

On Thursday 15 August 1991, eight days before he disappeared, Andrew Elphick went into work and produced £5,000 in cash in a clear plastic envelope to a co-worker at the shop and kept it for the day in the shop's safe at the back of the shop.

A flatmate of Andrew Elphick said that a few weeks before he disappeared, he had told him that if he came into a large sum of money that he would invest it in drugs as he thought that he could get a quick return, but noted that that was out of character for him as he didn't take drugs. He said that Andrew Elphick liked to look after himself, noting that he didn't smoke and didn't really drink much.

On Saturday 17 August 1991, Andrew Elphick went to a barbeque with some friends. One of his friends said that Andrew Elphick told her that he was due to come into a lot of money and told her that when he did that, he would take her out to dinner. The friend said that she then asked him where he was getting his money from and said that Andrew Elphick told her that it was just bad business and that he couldn't tell her, adding that if he could, he would. She said that Andrew Elphick told her that he was due to go to a club in London called the SW1 Club. The woman said that she asked Andrew Elphick if she could go with him but said that he told her that he couldn't as it was for members only.

He also spoke to some people that he had gone to school with at the barbeque, They said that Andrew Elphick asked them if they were into drugs and told them that he could make a lot of money out of it, but said that they thought that he must have been joking.

However, the woman said that he didn't go and instead they both went back to his flat after the barbeque where they sat on the bed talking and kissing and lying there. She said that they were lying there on the bed quite quiet when Andrew Elphick then suddenly jerked up and said that he had to make a phone call. She said that he picked up the phone at about 4am on Sunday 18 August 1991 and made the call. She said that she got the impression that he was speaking to an answering machine as he wasn't answering back to anybody and said that he apologised for blowing someone out and that he would be in touch later.

It was said that Andrew Elphick's life seemed to go on as normal over the next five days, although it was noted that Andrew Elphick didn't seem to have the £5,000 on him when his brother called him on the Thursday night 22 August 1991. His brother said that when he spoke to him on the phone, he mentioned a £600 that he owed him and said that Andrew Elphick told him that he thought that he could get it back to him in the next few weeks. He noted that Andrew Elphick brought the subject of the money up, not him.

On the following day, Friday 23 August, the day he disappeared, Andrew Elphick stayed at home for some of the time and spent the time taking up the trousers of a dinner suit that he had hired for a party that weekend. His flatmate noted that they had planned a lot for that weekend, stating that they had two parties going on.

Later, at about 6pm, a friend came round to see them and said that when he asked Andrew Elphick what he was doing that evening, Andrew Elphick had been vague and just said, 'Out'. He said that he asked him who he was going out with and whether it was a girl, and said that Andrew Elphick simply replied, 'Could be'. His friend said that he was very reluctant to say where he was going that night, and was very cagey, although he said that he led them to believe that he was seeing a lady-friend.

Andrew Elphick then left home at 8.30pm, saying that he was late for an appointment, and that was the last they saw of him as he never came home.

The police said that they didn't know whether he had been involved with drugs but said that the fact that he had spoken about drugs before he disappeared could not be ignored. They suggested that he might have become involved in drugs and might have got involved with a bad deal.

The police said that they were interested in speaking to anyone that might have known Andrew Elphick from the SW1 Club in London as well as the person that he spoke to at 4am on the morning of 18 August 1991.

During the initial search for Andrew Elphick police frogmen dragged the lakes near Wexham Park hospital after they received a telephone call saying that they would find the body of a man there.

The police said that in 1994 fresh information was received that allowed them to reopen the investigation into his murder, and three men were arrested in June 1995, but no charges were made.

The police also dug up a garden in June 1995 at a house in Connaught Road, Brookwood.

Andrew Elphick was 5ft 8in tall, with a muscular build and had brown hair.