Damien, 16, went out to meet his friends in Cowes, Isle of Wight, on a wet, cold wintry night on November 2, 1996, and never returned.
CCTV cameras captured Damien leaving a chip shop on Cowes’ High Street around 23.40.
Damien walked past a bus stop to the Co-op.
Several people claimed to have seen and spoken with him there. He was seen on CCTV walking back along High Street past the pontoon entrance after leaving the bus stop.
Damien was last seen around 00.02 under a camera across from an Indian restaurant and just before Sun Hill.
He was never seen again on any of the cameras along High Street after that.
He was reported missing that afternoon, and his disappearance was so out of character for him that his family immediately launched their own search.
In the years since, there have been police and private investigations, TV documentaries, and family campaigns, all in search of answers that have so far proven elusive.
Damien’s mother, Mrs. Nettles, has also maintained her criticism of Hampshire Constabulary’s initial handling of her son’s disappearance.
Complaints include the dismissal of initial requests for land and air searches, the loss of potentially critical CCTV, and the police force incorrectly registering him as an adult rather than a child when he went missing.
Unsolved – The Boy Who Disappeared, an eight-part documentary aired on BBC Three in 2016. The investigative journalists were able to speak with some of the people suspected of being involved. They also revealed that a key suspect obtained witness statement copies and was known to intimidate those witnesses.
Anyone with information about Damien’s disappearance is asked to call police at 101.
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