True Crime Collection

Charlene Downes

Charlene Elizabeth Caroline Downes was born 25th March 1989. Charlene lived in Buchanan Street, Blackpool, with her parents - Karen Downes and Robert Downs, a former soldier - as well as her brother and 2 sisters. The family had moved to Blackpool from the West Midlands in 1999. Charlene attended St George's School, Blackpool. Although described in court as "well and happy", she had experienced a "chaotic" lifestyle after being expelled from school, frequenting the area around Blackpool's Central Promenade. 

According to an internal police report, Charlene was one of 60 girls in Blackpool, some as young as 11, who had been groomed by men to carry out sex acts. The girls would be given food and cigarettes by the male employees of fast food outlets in exchange for sex. 

Charlene's mother, Karen Downes, last spoke to Charlene early in the evening on 1st November 2003, in Blackpool town centre. Charlene was wearing black jeans with a gold eagle design on the front, a black jumper with a white diamond pattern, and black boots. Police say she may also have been wearing a white cardigan or top with a hood. 

Karen was in Church Street handing out flyers for an Indian restaurant when she saw Charlene and one of her other daughters, Rebecca, at around 6:45pm. The three of them talked briefly. Rebecca said she was going home; Charlene said she saw going to meeting some female friends. She called them from a local telephone box, then waited with her mother until they arrived. Karen watched the girls walk off together toward the Winter Gardens. That was the last time she saw her daughter. 

The friends spent a short time together. Charlene then met another friend at around 9:30pm and visited the Carousel Bar on the North Pier. There is CCTV footage of a girl at 9pm on the junction of Dickson Road and Talbot Road that is believed to be Charlene; she is with an unidentified woman in her 30s with dyed blonde hair wearing a three quarter length coat. According to Charlene's friend, she and Charlene left the Carousel Bar and returned to the town centre at around 10pm. Her friend last saw her at around 11pm near Talbot Road/Abingdon Street. 

Following a police decision to treat Charlene's disappearance as murder, there was several arrests in the case, and two men stood trial in May 2007. The prosecution alleged at Preston Crown Court that Charlene had  been murdered by Iyad Albattikhi, a 29 year old man from Jordon and the owner of "Funny Boyz" fast food outlet in Blackpool. Mohammed Reveshi, Iyad's business partner, was accused of disposing of her body. According to the prosecution, Iyad had sex with Charlene. The prosecution alleged that the men had discussed disposing of her body by putting it in kebabs sold from the fast food outlet. 

The jury failed to reach a verdict. A re-trial was ordered and scheduled for April 2008, but such serious errors in the Lancashire Constabulary's covert surveillance evidence were identified that the Crown Prosecution Service could offer no case, and the men were released. In 2011, Iyad was convicted of assault after head butting an 18 year old woman. 

After a critical report by the Independent Police Complaints Commission, one of the detectives involved, Det Sgt Jan Beasant, was found guilty of misconduct by Lancashire Constabulary and told to resign, but the Police Arbitration Tribunal overturned the decision. In 2014, Jan's lawyer said she was suing the police for up to £500,000, as her transcripts were in fact entirely accurate. 

In April 2008, the week after the attempt at re-trial failed, Karen Downes stabbed her husband during an argument. The wounds were minor and he declined to press charges, saying that she was maddened with worry and frustration. In March 2009, Charlene's sister, Emma, pleaded not guilty to racially aggravated assault against the brother of the man who had been charged with murdering Charlene. She maintained that her assault on the man's brother had never been racially motivated; on the first day of her trial the prosecution accepted her plea to common assault, a less serious offence. She was sentenced to community service. In 2012, Charlene's younger brother admitted in court to punching the man who had faced the charge of helping dispose of her body. He was given a fine and a suspended sentence.

On 1st August, 2017, police arrested a 51 year old man from Preston, who lived in Blackpool at the time of Charlene's disappearance, on suspicion of murdering her. He was released two days later.