On a wet, cold wintry night on November 2, 1996, 16-year-old Damien went out...

Published: 8:19 pm November 2, 2021
Updated: 6:28 am October 8, 2025
Today Is The 25 Anniversary Of The Disappearance Of Damien Nettles
 
On a wet, cold wintry night on November 2, 1996, 16-year-old Damien went out to meet his friends in Cowes on the Isle of Wight and never returned.

Damien was seen by CCTV cameras on the High Street in Cowes, where he left a chip shop at around 23.40.

Damien walked towards the Co-op by a bus stop.

Several people reported seeing and speaking to him there. After he left the bus stop, he was again seen on the CCTV walking back along the High Street past the entrance to the pontoon.

The last sighting of Damien was around 00.02 under a camera across from an Indian restaurant and right before Sun Hill.

He was not seen anywhere on any camera along the High Street after that point.

He was reported missing that afternoon, with his disappearance so out of his character, his family immediately launched their own search efforts.

The following years have seen police and private investigations, TV documentaries and family campaigns, all searching for answers that have so far proved out of reach.

They have also seen Damiens mother Mrs Nettles maintain her criticism of Hampshire Constabulary’s initial handling of her son’s disappearance.

Complaints include the dismissal of initial pleas for land and air searches, the loss of potentially vital CCTV and the force mistakenly registering him as an adult rather than a child when he went missing.

In 2016 BBC Three released an eight-part documentary Unsolved – The Boy Who Disappeared. The investigative journalists secured interviews with some of the people rumoured to be involved.

They also revealed that a key suspect has obtained copies of witness statements and has been known to intimidate those witnesses.

Anyone with information into Damiens disappearance is urged to contact police on 101 alternatively you can use any of the numbers provided on the missing person poster attached to this article.

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