United Kingdom LEE BOXELL: Missing from Sutton, United Kingdom - 10 Sep 1988 - Age 15

Appeal offers £20,000 reward for help finding remains of man who vanished in 1988​

The Met police have launched a fresh appeal to find a boy who went missing from south London at the age of 15.

Lee Boxell vanished on September 10, 1988, after leaving his home in Sutton to meet his friend.

Lee met up with his friend and they spent some time together shopping before parting ways at around 1pm.

The last confirmed sighting of Lee was at 2.20pm that day on Sutton High Street.

A long-running police investigation looking into Lee’s movements on the day he vanished has stretched over the three decades he has been missing.

But because there haven’t been any further confirmed sightings of Lee after all these years, police sadly believe he isn’t alive anymore.

Lee was described as a ‘good student’ who ‘loved football’ and ‘had a very happy family life’ so the line of thinking that he ran away to start a new life and changed his name is ‘absolutely not viable’, according to police.

A fresh appeal has been launched because Lee’s parents, Peter and Christine Boxell, have had to live through the agony of not knowing what happened to their son 35 years ago.

Peter Boxell said they believe Lee was murdered, and they are urging anyone with information to come forwards as he and Ms Boxell are now in their late 70s.

‘We are still hoping that someone will come forward to help find his remains, so that my wife and I can say goodbye to our beloved son before it’s too late for us,’ Mr Boxell said.

The Met said in as statement ‘they want to ensure that Lee, if he is no longer alive, is given a proper burial’.



‘Over the years we have interviewed a number of people who we believe were involved in, or know about Lee’s disappearance. When arrested, those people gave a number of conflicting accounts.

‘One 80-year-old man, who is now deceased, claimed he had “helped Lee to get away” and that he was now living away from his family under an assumed name.

‘This version of events was investigated and was found not to have been credible.

‘This man, and his associates, also claimed that they had seen Lee a year later. However, members of the public called police anonymously with information stating that he had bragged that he had buried Lee in the churchyard at St Dunstan’s church in Cheam.

‘That information led us to conduct the largest ever archaeological dig undertaken by the Met at the church yard. Sadly, that search did not find Lee and his parents continue in their desperate hope to find him.

Last movements of Sutton teen who vanished 35 years ago revealed in fresh appeal on Channel 5's Vanished​

Fresh calls to the public will be made for information about the disappearance of a teenager 35 years ago. Lee Boxell went missing from his hometown in Sutton, on September 10, 1988.

The 15-year-old met a friend in Sutton High Street to do some shopping before they parted ways, and he hasn't been seen since. Peter and Christine Boxell's son would be 50 now.

Since Lee went missing there have been no credible sightings of him alive. But tonight, a fresh appeal will be made on Channel 5's Vanished: The Search for Britain's Missing.

Hosted by Dan Walker, episode three explores the circumstances of Lee's last known moments, with interviews with police, family members, friends and charity experts. The football mad youngster had £10 in his pocket and was first thought to be on his way to watch Crystal Palace at nearby Selhurst Park.

The documentary will be aired on Channel 5 on Wednesday, November 15 at 8pm. Earlier this year on the 35th anniversary of Lee's disappearance, a £20,000 reward was offered to anyone who knew what happened to Lee, or was able to lead police to his remains.

Sadly, the schoolboy is believed to be dead. In 2014 three men were arrested under suspicion of murder, but were subsequently granted bail and released. The police have investigated countless lines of enquiry - including conducting the Met's largest ever archaeological dig, at St Dunstan’s church yard in Cheam.

His parents, Peter and Christine, aged in their 70s, hope to find his remains so they can "say goodbye" to a "beloved son". Speaking at the time of the latest appeal, his dad Peter said: "We are still hoping that someone will come forward to help find his remains, so that my wife and I can say goodbye to our beloved son before it’s too late for us - we are in our late 70's. If you can help us and his sister finally know what happened and have some closure - please, do what’s right."

DCI Blackburn of the Metropolitan Police said: “My hope is that someone who didn’t feel they could speak to us in the past may now feel that they can come forward and share what they know. At this stage of our investigation my priority is to find Lee so that he can be returned to his parents.

VANISHED: The missing teenage boys whose cases remain unsolved​

The tragic case of Jay Slater has been a constant presence in the news over the past few weeks, ending in the devastating discovery of the teenager's body. However, countless other families continue to endure the mystery surrounding their own missing loved ones.

Every year, British police receive tens of thousands of missing person reports. While many teenagers are eventually found, a significant number of cases remain unsolved.

Jay's case has been one of the most high-profile in recent times, with a large-scale search operation ultimately leading to the discovery of his body. A post-mortem examination concluded that he had died from injuries suffered in a fall.

However, it's the high number of UK teenage boys currently listed as missing that draws the most direct comparison with Jay. We look at his tragic case and other similar unresolved mysteries.

Lee Boxell​

Lee Boxell, then 15, disappeared from Sutton, Greater London, on September 10, 1988. He had been seen with a friend in Sutton at about 11am before parting ways at 1pm.

Before splitting up, he told his friend he would go to Selhurst Park to watch a football match. When Lee went missing, he was described as being 5ft 7ins with light brown hair.

He was wearing black jeans, a Flintstones T-shirt and brown suede shoes when he was last seen. If you have any information about Lee, follow the link on Missing People here and be aware of the reference number 93-000058.

Lee Boxell: 37 years since Sutton schoolboy went missing​

On September 10, 1988, 15-year-old Lee Boxell, a pupil at Cheam High School, left home and was never seen again.

Since then, Lee’s parents, Peter and Christine, have been left without any information about his whereabouts.


In 2013, police investigated claims involving convicted sex offender William Lambert, including excavations in a Cheam churchyard, but found no evidence, and Lambert was never charged in connection with Lee.

Peter said that he and Christine have kept Lee’s room as it was and continue to live in the family home, adding: “We’ve lived here since the house was built, and because Lee went missing from here, we just couldn’t bear to move in case Lee came back.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen now, but I just couldn't think of moving now”.

The family’s main hope is to find out what happened to Lee and they remain appealing for any information about his whereabouts.

Peter said: “If anybody knows what happened to Lee, please, please contact the police.

“Or, if they need to be anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers.

“There is a substantial award of £20,000.”

Police to reopen case of missing Sutton teen Lee Boxell after almost 40 years​

Lee Boxell's bedroom remains in pristine condition from the day he vanished on September 10 almost four decades ago, with his parents desperately hoping they might finally uncover the truth.

The Sutton, South London, teen was just 15 years old when he seemingly vanished in thin air after telling his parents he was going to a football match that day in 1988. Tragically, the teen never returned home and the missing person case turned into one of the UK's most mysterious cold cases yet to be cracked.

The Met Police Cold Case Unit has confirmed it will now be re-examining Lee's case, with a dedicated Cold Case Review Team set to trawl through a "room full of documents" in a bid to finally uncover what happened to the football-mad youngster.

The fresh probe will apply modern forensic techniques to old evidence - including a watch found years ago - as investigators revisit a sinister network of grooming and abuse linked to an outbuilding at a local church.



The new probe for answers is a "last chance" for them to find the truth, Lee's father, Peter Boxell, now 79, said.

"It's a last chance to find out what happened to Lee. The Cold Case Review Team will be going through everything that the police has on the files, which is a whole room of documents to check everything was done properly.

"It's a last chance for us to find out. I'm just hopeful," he said.