The murder of Vicky Glass has stumped investigator for a quarter of a centaury. Attempting to solve the case police are looking for a single lorry driver – who’s identity remains a mystery to this day
For over a quarter of a century investigators have struggled to identify the individual behind the disappearance and death of 21-year-old woman Vicky Glass.
Despite police arresting numerous people in the search for the person responsible for Vicky’s murder not a single person has been charged. Vicky Glass was last seen alive on 24 September 2000 as she was dropped off by a taxi in Middleborough.
Six weeks after her disappearance her body was found in a stream in Danby, North Yorkshire, in a horrific condition due to decomposition after it was pulled from the water. Described by her family as “quiet and very vulnerable”, Vicky unfortunately turned to sex work to fuel her crippling drug habit. Despite her troubles her father described his daughter as someone who didn’t have “a bad bone in her body”.
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On 8 August 2003 at an inquest into the woman’s death Dr Kenneth Shorrock delivering a post-mortem examination and said he was unable to give a pathological cause of Vicky’s death. The doctor described the difficulties he had in examining the badly decomposed body. In a grim revelation Dr Shorrock revealed numerous parts of Glass’s body were missing – including a number of her major organs and bones.
At the inquest coroner Michael Oakley said: “We don’t know how she came to be where she was found, we don’t know the cause of death as whether there was a third party directly or indirectly involved in her death.”
Detectives investigating the woman’s murder said Vicky had a happy childhood, however at the age of 18 Vicky fell in with the wrong crowd. The inquest heard Vicky had been exploited by others who led her into drugs and pressured her into sex work to raise money to fuel her drug habit.
Police believe a number of lorry drivers were regular clients of Vicky as she was known to have travelled with them in the past for up to a week at a time. In 2021, a detailed review of the original murder investigation was carried out after it failed to find Vicky’s murderer. The review identified more than 300 recommendations, including that a reinvestigation should be undertaken.
In a recent development police have scrambled to find the identity of a single lorry driver who was seen speaking to Vicky before her death and disappearance.
New CCTV footage gave detectives a clearer picture of what Vicky was wearing on the day she vanished. The footage showed Vicky in light-coloured trousers, a light-coloured top, white trainers and a dark puffer style jacket.
The friend who appears in the CCTV footage – alongside Vicky – has been interviewed by police and has given crucial information to the investigation. The friend’s account of events reveals shortly after the footage was taken Vicky was seen talking to a lorry driver who gave her some money.
Vicky left some personal items with the lorry driver and had arranged to meet him later that day. The lorry driver is described as a white male, aged between 34 and 38 at the time, with a broad build and a distinctive mole on his face. Officers are looking to speak to the man. However identity of the lorry driver still remains at unknown.
Tragically, Vicky’s mother Deborah Goodall died in 2015 without ever getting the answers of what happened to her daughter. Vicky’s father Anthony Glass has revealed the heartbreak he and his family have had to endure for 25 years due to the death and disappearance of Vicky.
Anthony Glass said: “People say time heals but it doesn’t. You don’t exist as such. You lose track of time; time is lost. You stop doing the things you would normally do.
“I think there are people that know what happened, maybe they weren’t there but if they think they know something they need to phone the police. 25 years is a long time.
“Somebody must know who took her up to Danby or who she was with and never returned. Tell the police. I would say it’s impossible for somebody else not to know.”
Four people have been arrested in connection with Vicky’s murder since 2000, but all have been released with no further action.
