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19/08/2008
Longest Running Missing Person Case Faces Closure
The probe into Britain's longest missing person case may be closed if no new leads are found.
Genette Tate disappeared aged 13 while on a newspaper round in the village of Aylesbeare, Devon on 19 August, 1978.
Her blue bicycle and papers were found in Within Lane on the same day, prompting a huge police search.
Devon and Cornwall Police say that the investigation remains open and the force are still appealing for information.
However, police sources have said that it could "effectively be the end of the case" unless "any new developments arose".
Despite thousands of local people helping out with the investigation, she has never been found.
Over the years, the Genette case file grew so large that it was kept in a 12ft by 10ft document cage at the Devon and Cornwall Police headquarters in Exeter.
The paperwork included more than 20,000 cards in a filing system.
A possible turning point in the investigation came when police requested if a convicted child killer - Robert Black - could be pursued as a suspect.
Police found evidence putting Black in the Aylesbeare area at the time.
Black, was given 10 life sentences in 1994 for the abduction and murder of three girls and the abduction of a 15-year-old.
However, the Crown Prosecution Service says it will not be pursuing any prosecution against him.
Devon and Cornwall Police said it had been informed by the CPS that "there is insufficient evidence to justify the institution of criminal proceedings against the individual arrested by the force in connection with the disappearance of Genette Tate".
"The force is aware that the 30th anniversary is approaching and would ask any one with further information concerning this unsolved crime contact the force," police said.
BBC South West Home Affairs Correspondent Simon Hal said: "The view I'm getting from senior officers is that there is nowhere else to go and, unless there is some significant new development, that will effectively be the end of the case."
Genette's father, John Tate, is understood to be "in despair" at the news.
"It's something that you can't imagine. You have so many sleepless nights that it must have an effect," he said.
(DS)
Genette Tate disappeared aged 13 while on a newspaper round in the village of Aylesbeare, Devon on 19 August, 1978.
Her blue bicycle and papers were found in Within Lane on the same day, prompting a huge police search.
Devon and Cornwall Police say that the investigation remains open and the force are still appealing for information.
However, police sources have said that it could "effectively be the end of the case" unless "any new developments arose".
Despite thousands of local people helping out with the investigation, she has never been found.
Over the years, the Genette case file grew so large that it was kept in a 12ft by 10ft document cage at the Devon and Cornwall Police headquarters in Exeter.
The paperwork included more than 20,000 cards in a filing system.
A possible turning point in the investigation came when police requested if a convicted child killer - Robert Black - could be pursued as a suspect.
Police found evidence putting Black in the Aylesbeare area at the time.
Black, was given 10 life sentences in 1994 for the abduction and murder of three girls and the abduction of a 15-year-old.
However, the Crown Prosecution Service says it will not be pursuing any prosecution against him.
Devon and Cornwall Police said it had been informed by the CPS that "there is insufficient evidence to justify the institution of criminal proceedings against the individual arrested by the force in connection with the disappearance of Genette Tate".
"The force is aware that the 30th anniversary is approaching and would ask any one with further information concerning this unsolved crime contact the force," police said.
BBC South West Home Affairs Correspondent Simon Hal said: "The view I'm getting from senior officers is that there is nowhere else to go and, unless there is some significant new development, that will effectively be the end of the case."
Genette's father, John Tate, is understood to be "in despair" at the news.
"It's something that you can't imagine. You have so many sleepless nights that it must have an effect," he said.
(DS)
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