Police investigate ‘anonymous poem’, posted from Romford, about body in lake
Neill Buchel had been missing since March 13 - Credit: Archant
An anonymous photocopied poem allegedly concerning butchered Dagenham father Neill Butchel is being investigated by police.
The letter, reported to be a photocopy with details handwritten over the top, was mailed from Romford to the Yellow Advertiser’s Basildon office.
Its contents cannot be released, the paper said, for legal reasons – but it is believed they contain details that were not issued by police.
Three men were arrested and released on police bail on suspicion of murder last month. Neill was reported missing on March 18, five days after he was last seen.
Investigating officer Det Insp Cliff Haines has urged potential witnesses to come forward as his team investigates the mysterious letter.
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He said: “There will have been people, and I have no doubt about that, that will have been at that lake when the body was placed in the lake. The lake is open 24 hours a day. I believe there may well have been a number of people at the lake and it’s possible someone will have heard something when the body was placed under the surface of the water.”
The 39-year-old’s mother Trish Kell this week spoke eabout her family’s reaction to news of Neill’s death.
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“At least we now know he has been found, if nothing else,” she said, speaking from Durban in South Africa.
“You think: ‘Did he die instantly?’
“All these thoughts keep on going around in your head and it’s terrible.”
The majority of Neill’s body was found on Friday in White Hart Lakes, off The Chase nature reserve, Rush Green, three days after a member of the public spotted a severed leg floating in the water.
Call 020 8345 3734 or speak to Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111 if you have information.
