Peter Watts

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Metropolitan Police Scotland (YARD)

Offense Location:

Colwyn Bay, Wales

Summary:

Peter Watts, a 15-year-old, left his home in Colwyn Bay, North Wales on January 18, 1976 to meet a friend for revision. His body was found in a vehicle underpass 200 miles away in Euston, London, and to this day, no one knows exactly what happened to Peter or why.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

On the 18th of January 1976, 15 year old Peter Watts left his home in Colwyn Bay in North Wales. He left a note to tell his parents that he was going to meet a friend to do some revision. Despite Peter buying a return ticket from Colwyn Bay to Chester at 4pm on the day he disappeared, there were no reported sightings of him on the train, which left at 5.18pm that day. Soon after 1:30 that afternoon, he was found dying in the underpass near Euston Square tube station in London. Peter was found below a bridge at Euston Road underpass at around 1.30am on Monday January 19 by a passing taxi driver. A post mortem examination gave the cause of death as head injuries consistent with a fall. While Peter's injuries are consistent with a fall from a great height, his body and clothing appear to have been washed, suggesting that he was seriously injured at another location before someone placed his body on the underpass. Missing were his wristwatch, ring, key and glasses and a pathological reporter said that he body and clothes appeared to have been cleaned before death.

Additional Details:

For a week, the Eirias High School pupil was treated as missing, as the police forces in North Wales and London failed to connect his disappearance to the discovery of the mortally wounded teenager. His funeral was held at St Paul's Church in Colwyn Bay, with the cremation taking place at Bron-y-Nant. A suicide theory was ruled out early on in the investigation and an inquest jury in May returned a verdict that Peter was murdered by persons or persons unknown. Peter's father Percy Watts broke into tears at the inquest verdict, and spoke at the time of his suspicions that Peter was abducted from Colwyn Bay. Detective Inspector, Susan Stansfield, from the Metropolitan Police Homicide Special Casework Investigation team which specialises in cold cases met with Peter's brother to look through the file. A retired cab driver named John Varney told ITV News London that, in January 1976, he was travelling through the Euston bypass when he spotted a man coming over the railings at the same time as a police car with blue flashing lights drove past him at speed. The police car then "hit him up into the air", said Mr Varney. He came from a loving and close-knit family but tragically his parents both died without the answers they were seeking.

Case Last Updated:

Apr 27, 2026