Ruth Wilson

Ruth Wilson



Age at disappearance: 16


Ruth, from Betchworth in Surrey, went missing on 27 November 1995. That morning Ruth went into Dorking with friends and after saying goodbye to them took a taxi to Boxhill. The taxi driver dropped her off near the Hand In Hand pub in Boxhill at about 4.30pm. Ruth has not been seen or heard from since.

Despite some unconfirmed sightings of her around the Surrey area, Ruth's whereabouts remain a mystery.

Her parents and younger sister miss her terribly. Her parents said: "We just want Ruth to know that we love and miss her and urge her to get in touch. We do not want to put pressure on her to return home, but we need to know that she is safe."

When Ruth went missing she was about 5ft 3in tall and had dark, shoulder length hair. She normally wears glasses.

Have you seen Ruth?

Ruth Wilson was 16 when she went missing in November 1995. Her parents Ian, 56, and Karen, are teachers in Betchworth, Surrey. They have a younger daughter, Jenny, 24. Ian writes:
Dear Ruth
We still have the presents we bought you for Christmas in 1995. They're safe in a drawer - waiting for you to come back, though I expect your tastes have changed so much you'd probably laugh at the music and clothes.
Though the house is too large now that your sister Jenny has moved out, we can't bear to move. It's your home after all.
Jenny lives nearby. You remember how she adores horses? Now she's got a full-time job in an equestrian centre. She's as happy as she can be without her big sister around.
Your disappearance is still a mystery. You were confident, independent minded and, apart from the usual teenage frictions, seemed so happy at home.
You enjoyed bell ringing and had just started learning to play the organ. The congregation at the local church still prays for you every week.
Though you'd just broken off with your boyfriend, you were still close. You had lots of friends and had just joined the sixth form and were talking of studying archaeology at university.
You had a Saturday job in a music shop, and were so trustworthy that neighbours queued up to ask you to babysit. In fact, you were so reliable that when you didn't come home from school that Monday afternoon in November 1995, we assumed we'd forgotten one of your many activities.
It was late at night before the terrible truth dawned. Surrey police swept straight into action. They've been brilliant and still keep in touch. They discovered that, instead of going to school, you had called a taxi to take you to Dorking library. You took taxis occasionally and regularly visited the library, but even so, this was totally out of character.
As the day progressed, your behaviour became even more inexplicable. You visited a florist and ordered an expensive bouquet for Mum. You left no message - simply strict instructions that it must not be delivered until Wednesday.
Then, around 4pm, you called another taxi from Dorking station and asked to be taken to Box Hill, a local beauty spot. You asked the driver to leave you by a bridleway a short way from a pub.
The light was failing as you got out. The driver says you stood there as he drove off. You can imagine our terror and how we searched month after month.
I trawled London - hoping against hope I'd find you. We wondered if you had a secret, but your Filofax revealed nothing. The police discovered you had visited Box Hill before, but don't know why.
They also found that you'd been worried about your grades and had hidden your last school report from us.
There have been many false leads. Every time our spirits are raised, only to be dashed again. It's torture. Even now I find myself driving past bus stops and staring. Could that young woman - you're 27 now - be you?
Most of all, we want you to know that while we miss you desperately and want to know you're fine, we have never been angry with you, whatever prompted you to go that day.
We are just so sad that a big chunk of your life has been lived without us. There is nothing to forgive. Mum and I simply want to put our arms around you and tell you how much we love you. All any parent wants is for their child to be happy.
Knowing you are safe and well - even if you don't want to come home - would make me the happiest man in the world.

Fresh appeal to find missing Ruth
Rebecca Younger
December 09, 2008

A FRESH appeal has been made to help find a missing person who vanished from the Dorking area 13 years ago.

Ruth Wilson, from Betchworth, was last seen on the afternoon of November 27, 1995, when a taxi driver dropped her off at the Hand in Hand in nearby Box Hill.

She was aged 16 at the time and a pupil at The Ashcombe School.

The Missing People charity has issued a fresh appeal on behalf of Ruth's family to try to find her.

It urged her to get in touch via a confidential messaging service.

On the morning of her disappearance, Ruth told her parents Ian and Karen, and her younger sister Jenny, that she had a study period and would make her own way to school.

She made visits to a florist’s in Dorking, where she ordered a bunch of flowers to be delivered to her parents two days later, and then went to Dorking Library before ordering a taxi to take her to Box Hill.

A teenage girl with similar features to Ruth was recorded on CCTV buying a copy of the Surrey Advertiser in a newsagent’s in the Box Hill area the following year, but it has never been confirmed if it was her or not.

Click here for newspaper cuttings from the Surrey Advertiser between 1995 and 1998.

Despite a number of other reported sightings across Britain, Ruth has never been found and mystery still surrounds her disappearance.

Former Surrey Police officer Mark Williams-Thomas, who was the family liaison officer for Ruth’s case and now advises police on child protection issues, said the case was "extremely bizarre".

But the retired detective, who has worked on elements of the Madeleine McCann and Shannon Matthews cases, said he was sure Ruth was not abducted by a stranger.

“From the experience I have had, I would suggest one of two things occurred,” he said. “She either went up there to meet someone and has subsequently gone away, or she went there and died in some way.”

But he said extensive searches across Box Hill had yielded no evidence to suggest Ruth was killed or committed suicide.

“She went up there for a reason. The reason she went up there we don’t know,” he said.

“It’s a very scary place up there, particularly at that time of year when it would have been dark. It’s very strange to go to that location unless you went to meet somebody.

“It’s relatively easy to vanish off the radar, but to do it without telling someone or without help would have been difficult for Ruth. She didn’t have the power to do that so she would have had to have some help.”

Police said Ruth’s case, codenamed Operation Scholar, remained open and officers continued to follow up new pieces of information regarding her whereabouts, including recent postings on social networking website MySpace about a possible sighting in Canada.

Sergeant Caroline Zamir, from the Missing Persons team, said: “Although 13 years on we still do not know what happened to Ruth after she was dropped off by a taxi at the Hand in Hand pub in Box Hill, the investigation into her disappearance has never been closed.

“Every possible sighting of Ruth is followed up and we remain interested to hear from anyone who thinks they might have met Ruth, or seen her, during the past 13 years.

“Ruth will be 30-years-old at the end of January 2009 and there is still a chance someone knows somebody who could be Ruth.”

Anyone who might have any information is urged to contact Missing People on freephone 0500 700700 or at seensomeone@missingpeople.org.uk

Timeline
Monday, November 27, 1995
4.30pm: Ruth is dropped off by taxi at the Hand in Hand pub in Box Hill
Saturday, October 2, 1995
The community of Betchworth join police officers in an extensive search of Box Hill and Betchworth Quarry
Friday, December 8, 1995
The Wilson family make an appeal on a TV breakfast show
Friday, November 29, 1996
A girl with similar features to Ruth is captured on CCTV buying a newspaper at a Box Hill newsagents
Thursday, January 9, 1997
Ruth’s disappearance features on BBC2 programme Southern Eye: Presumed Missing
February 1998
Iceland prints a photo of Ruth on its milk cartons to help the appeal
June 2006
Police relaunch an appeal to find Ruth
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Missing People charity renews appeal to find Ruth and Surrey Police reveal they are looking into possible sightings in Canada

Plea to trace missing teenager Ruth Wilson 14 years on


Ruth's family have had no contact from her since her disappearance in 1995
A school friend of a Surrey teenager who has been missing for more than 14 years has made a television appeal.
Ruth Wilson was 16 when she was last seen on 27 November 1995 by a taxi driver who dropped her off near the Hand in Hand pub in Boxhill.
She had earlier been in Dorking town centre where she ordered a bouquet of flowers to be delivered to her parents before going to the library.
Roxy Birch told the BBC's Missing Live programme she was a "brilliant friend".
"She had a good sense of humour, lots of varied interests, incredibly intelligent," she said, adding there were signs that her friend had planned to disappear.

Our greatest wish is that you are safe and happy and that one day you will make contact and be part of our life again
Ruth Wilson's parents
"She sent flowers to be delivered two days after she was last seen for no real specific reason," Ms Birch said.
Following Ruth's disappearance Surrey Police launched an extensive investigation to try to locate her.
Officers, together with a police helicopter and police dogs, searched the Boxhill area where she was last seen.
When Ruth went missing she was about 5ft 3in (1.57m) tall and had dark, shoulder length hair, and wore glasses.
A person resembling the teenager was captured on CCTV at a newsagent's shop just two miles from Boxhill, almost a year to the day after she disappeared.
'We love you'
In the 14 years since she went missing Ruth's family have had no contact from her and officers have received no firm clues as to her whereabouts.
Sgt Terry Hardie, from the Missing Persons team, said: "Over the years we have followed-up many possible sightings of Ruth but we still do not know exactly what happened to Ruth after she was dropped off by a taxi.
"Ruth will be in her 30s now and I hope by relaunching the media appeal someone who knows where Ruth is, or Ruth herself, comes forward and is able to end the distress suffered by Ruth's family."
A statement from her parents, broadcast on Thursday's Missing Live programme, said: "We love you and think about you every day.
"Our greatest wish is that you are safe and happy and that one day you will make contact and be part of our life again.
"We have never ever stopped loving you and missing you. We love you."