Series 3, Episode 1 • Mary Flanagan - Missing or Murdered?

The Detective

Mary Flanagan was aged 16 when she disappeared from her London home on New Year's Eve, 1959. Mary is the UK's longest missing persons case.

Mary was brought up in a strict London-Catholic family and had two sisters, Eileen and Brenda, and a brother, Kevin.

At the time of her disappearance, she was working at the Tate and Lyle sugar refinery in Plaistow.

In episode 1 Mary’s sister Brenda explains how close they were as a family and what it was like growing up in West Ham in the 1950’s and 60’s

Brenda provides a valuable insight into how Mary was engaged to a person who was introduced to her by her father.

This person was known as Tom, and he worked at the docks.

As the episode continues, we hear how Mary was pretending to go work at Tate & Lyle in the two weeks prior to her vanishing and how none of the family can remember Tom’s surname or where he lived.

What is very significantly is how the original police file was destroyed, the police say in a flood; a police file that almost certainly would have held significant information about Mary’s disappearance.

During the podcast Mary’s case manager from the Missing People charity gives a valuable insight into the case and explains why some people go missing.

In episode 2 we explore some of the sightings, the creation of an age-progression image of Mary by a forensic artist and explore what the family think could have happened to Mary.

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