Norfolk police say file on missing Fakenham schoolboy will never be closed

The last photograph of Steven Newing taken shorrtly before he disappeared, in 1969. Archant © 2008

Police say they will never close their investigation into what happened to a Fakenham schoolboy who disappeared more than 40 years ago.

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Norfolk police's file on the case. Norfolk police's file on the case.

Steven Newing was reported missing at about 10pm on September 2, 1969.

The 11-year-old was the oldest of four children who lived with their mum Jean on Lee Warner Avenue.

A major investigation was conducted at the time of Steven’s disappearance. His home was searched, along with surrounding areas of the town.

Police say Steven had no reason to have run away from home. On the evening he disappeared, he was seen by a friend walking on his own near the junction of the A149, close to the Hindringham turn-off.

Lee Warner Avenue, where Steven lived. Lee Warner Avenue, where Steven lived.

Police say that there was another “significant potential sighting” at Sutton Bridge, Lincolnshire.

A man working for a circus which was in the area at the time was also interviewed as a potential abductor.

Inquiries carried out at the time and since have so far drawn a blank.

But Det Insp Andy Guy, from the Norfolk and Suffolk Major Investigation Team, said: “It’s now 46 years since Steven disappeared.

“Despite the passage of so much time the police will still act on any genuine information they receive to bring a conclusion to Steven’s case.”

That conclusion will come too late for Steven’s mother, who died on the day before the anniversary of his disappearence, in 2014. Speaking to the Times in 2013, then aged 77, she said she still thought of her freckle faced “mischievous” boy every day.

At a celebration event to mark the 10th anniversary of the opening of Steven Newing House in Fakenham, which houses and supports vulnerable 16 to 25-year-olds, she said: “I think of his cheeky little freckled face and the way he always used to get up to mischief, whether it was falling off his bike, falling out of a tree or having his teeth knocked out by a football.

“I still very much want to know what happened to him. At my age I don’t know that I’ll ever know the truth but I feel it’s important for me to find out.”

Police never close their files and so-called cold cases are regularly reviewed for new lines of enquiry.

Anyone with information on Steven’s disappearence should call Norfolk police, on 101.