A mother whose 14 year old daughter disappeared 13 years ago is suing the police after finding out they had a video of her daughter just before she disappeared but never shared it with anyone. The mother wants to know why they didn’t release the video so that someone could shed light on what happened to her daughter.
Iyad Albattikhi and Mohammed Reveshi were charged with murdering Charlene Downes and cutting up her body to use for kabob meat but the DA couldn’t gain a conviction. The mother believes that had the police released the video, it might have helped. The police are not explaining why the video was withheld. (To protect Muslims?)
Police eventually charged takeaway workers Iyad Albattikhi and Mohammed Reveshi with her murder and a trial heard her body parts ‘went into kebabs’.
But the pair – who worked at Funny Boyz fast food shop – were acquitted after a jury were unable to reach a verdict, with the prosecution subsequently withdrawing the charges at a re-trial.
Last week a BBC Crimewatch appeal aired showing ‘new’ CCTV footage from the day of her disappearance, which has prompted her family to launch legal action claiming ‘failings’ by Lancashire Police over the years.
Karen Downes is seeking damaged and a public apology from the force over its handling of the case, with the CCTV footage only discovered late last year when new detectives were brought onto the investigation.
The CCTV shows Charlene with her sister Rebecca on Bank Hey Street in Blackpool town centre at 3.25pm on the same Saturday afternoon.
Mrs Downes told the Mirror: ‘This is not about money it is about the principle. It is unbelievable that they have had that footage all those years and never used it.
“It is an absolute disgrace and an insult to the memory of my dead daughter.’
Mrs Downes said she was furious the CCTV has only just emerged and questioned what police ‘had been doing’ in the past 10 years, adding this fresh appeal was ‘too little, too late’.
She added: ‘I am absolutely disgusted. Everyday is still a living hell. And instead of helping me the police add to it as they never tell me anything and seem determined to keep me in the dark.’
The mother added she only learned of the footage after a friend rang her about it and claims police have not been in touch about the investigation for seven months.
Her claim against polices alleges they ‘violated their investigative duty’ and said if the footage had been released in 2003 it was ‘likely to have had an impact on the investigation’.
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