Anne Simpson

Anne Simpson went missing in 2004.

She had lived in a caravan at the Coastfields Caravan Park in Ingoldmells with her long-term companion and was reported missing on 26 September 2004.

Her long-term companion said that she had left the caravan alone after they had a row drinking together. However, his version of events was later disputed.

Anne Simpson had been visited by some of her family from Leicester earlier on the day she vanished, and after saying goodbye to them, she went to The Bell with her companion.

Her companion said that they both returned to the caravan, but they slept in separate rooms and he didn't see her return, he only heard her, and said that she shortly after went back out at about 11pm, and that he never saw her again.

He said they had argued at the pub and he returned to the caravan early, and that he heard her return between 10pm and 10.30pm , and then fumbling around, before leaving again around 11pm.

He said that when he woke up the following morning she was still not there and that he called her relatives in Leicester who came down to help, and that the police also came out later the same day.

It was found that she had left her handbag behind, indicating that she had not gone back out to a pub or a friend's house, it being noted that she was never without her handbag.

It was also later said that she had gone into a local shop that night after leaving the pub, and asked to have her phone topped up. It was said that she had asked to have credit added to her phone so she could call her daughter because she:

However, she didn't call her daughter.

Following an appeal in April 2011 the police searched Lakeside Caravan Park at Sutton on Sea following an anonymous call. The search included a search of a lake there by divers, however, nothing was found.

A man was arrested in Devon in relation to her disappearance in May 2012.

The police said that murder was one line of enquiry that they were considering.

However, the police noted that there was no connection between the man arrested in May 2012 and Lakeside Caravan Park.

A detective said:

In 2021 it was revealed that Anne Simpson had been drinking with two bikers shortly before she went missing. Anne Simpson's granddaughter said that the landlord of The Bell public house on the caravan park told her that Anne Simpson and her partner had been drinking there with two other men on the day she vanished. She said:

She added that they never got to the bottom of who the two men were, noting that the landlord never described them.

Anne Simpson's granddaughter added:

The police said that there were a number of possibilities regarding what might have happened to Anne Simpson:

1. Murdered.
2. Voluntarily gone missing, although they said that was unlikely.
3. Taken her own life and lying dead someplace. It was noted that she had been depressed as she had recently lost a daughter to cancer. It was suggested that she might have drowned herself, but her relatives said that she didn't like the sea or the cold and unlikely to take her life that way.
4. Died from a fatal accident and lying dead someplace.

Her granddaughter later said:

Anne Simpson had previously lived in the Saffron Lane area of Leicester, and had only just moved to the caravan park a few months before she disappeared.