Mark Tildesley

Mark Tildesley
Real Name: Mark Anthony Tildesley

Nicknames: None

Location: Wokingham, Berkshire, England

Date: June 1, 1984

Bio
Occupation: Schoolboy

Date of Birth: August 31, 1976

Height: 4ft (1.22m)

Weight: Unrevealed

Marital Status: Single

Characteristics: Tall and slim with mousey coloured hair and dark eyes.

Case
Details: Seven-year-old Mark disappeared while visiting a funfair in his home town of Wokingham on the evening of June 1, 1984. He was lured away from the fair and his bicycle was found chained to railings nearby. In 1990 it emerged that Mark had been abducted, drugged, tortured, raped and murdered by a London-based homosexual paedophile gang on the night he disappeared.

Suspects: Sidney Cooke, Lennie Smith, Leslie Bailey and Odd Bod.

Extra Notes: The disappearance was originally mentioned in the first ever episode of Crimewatch on June 7, 1984. The full reconstruction was aired on June 13, 1985, the show's tenth episode. More than 1,000 people phoned in with information, one of the highest volumes in Crimewatch history.

Resolved: Unsolved. Only Leslie Bailey was ever charged and convicted, despite Sidney Cooke being the ring leader and abductor, and Lennie Smith being the actual murderer. In addition, Mark's body has never been found and the murder is Wokingham's most notorious unsolved crime. Thames Valley Police initially thought his body was buried within a mile of Wellington Road in Wokingham, the location of the fair from which he was abducted, but they now believe that his body was probably buried in a shallow grave on abandoned farmland.