Family seek answers after murdered man's remains are found in Sutton field

His daughter Julie, now 82, says she “doesn’t want to go to her grave” never knowing what happened to her “loving and hard-working dad”.

Alfred, aged 54, was last seen drinking at the former Miners Arms pub on Church Street West in his home village of Pinxton in early 1967 when he mysteriously disappeared.

He had handed his son Gary some money to buy a round and had gone to use the outside toilet. But he never returned.

The mystery lived on until Wednesday, April 26 this year when construction work was being carried out on farmland on Coxmoor Road, Sutton.

A member of the public came across some skeletal remains and contacted Nottinghamshire Police.

Through extensive DNA work, officers ruled out all three of the forces' ‘no body’ murders and the person remained unidentified.

But after a media appeal for information, Alfred’s grandson, Russell Lowbridge, who was four years old when his grandfather went missing, contacted police.

He felt the items of clothing found with the remains, including two distinctive socks and a shoe, belonged to his grandad.

DNA tests were carried out on family members and matched against the bones exhumed from the ground.

Now it has been confirmed that the remains were Alfred’s.

The father-of-six, born and bred in Pinxton, had worked for Langton Colliery since he was 14 years old.

He had the nickname of ‘Sparrow’ and was known as the ‘Champion Pigeon Man of Pinxton’ because of his love for pigeon racing.

Four of his children are still alive, and he has a number of grandchildren.

Fighting back tears, his daughter Julie Swinscoe, 82, said the news of his discovery has completely broken her.

She said: “I was 25 at the time and a factory worker. I remember coming home one day from work and people saying they couldn’t find dad. He had gone missing, and the police were searching.

“We all thought it was very mysterious, but we thought he would turn up. It makes you wonder how we have coped for all these years because it has always stayed with us as a family. Where did dad go?

“We never expected that the remains found in Sutton would be him. I practically went hysterical. I said: he can’t have lay in that field for 56 years and no-one could find him until now.

“It’s just so horrible. I would like to think I could die knowing the truth. I am 82 now and I could go myself at any time.”

Alfred’s brother, Gary, who died in November 2012 after a short illness, never got the chance to find the answers he desperately needed.

Russell, 60, who works for St John’s Ambulance, said: “I was the closest nephew to Gary as he passed on his love of pigeon racing to me in the 1970s and 80s.

“I think it was in the blood. He doted on my grandad. He always said what a great pigeon-racer he was. They had a shared passion for it.

“His disappearance haunted my uncle Gary his whole life. He went to his grave never knowing what happened.

“He wouldn’t let it go, especially as he was in the pub with him the night he went missing. He just remembers his dad giving him a ten bob note, telling him to get a round and then never ever seeing him again.

“We would go back to Pinxton at the time and search down disused wells. We even hired a private detective near the end.

“It completely broke him, never knowing what happened to his dad. I want justice for Gary because he tried so hard to get answers.

“It tormented him until the day he died.

“We are going to bury Alfred in Sutton next to uncle Gary. It is time this old miner came home.

“As pigeon racers would say, it has been a long hold-over. It has been a smash up of a race, but the old bird has finally clocked in.

“And for those who don’t know what that means, it means he has finally come home.”

Alfred’s family are now appealing for any information, no matter how small, that could help police with their investigation.

Officers want to hear from anyone who knew Alfred, drank at the Miners Arms at the same time or knows anything about his disappearance and was reluctant to come forward all those years ago.

Daughter Julie added: “He was born and grew up in Pinxton and was a hard-working, loving father.

“They really respected him at the colliery because he was good at his job and liked to socialise in the pub after work.

“Everyone knew who he was in Pinxton because it was a proper pit village.

“He also had his own pigeon loft. It was a keen hobby in the 1960s. He knocked it together himself with my brother Gary. You could say it was like working class horse-racing.

“He was good at it and was known as the top dog. Someone, somewhere will have some information, and we urge them to get in touch with the police.

“We might be able to now give my dad the funeral he deserves but we don’t have the answers we desperately want.

“Someone killed my dad and I want to know why. I need to know why”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the police's incident room by clicking this online link https://mipp.police.uk/operation/33EM22E48-PO1

Alternatively, you can call the incident room on 0800 096 0095.