Martin Duncan Allen

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

Metropolitan Police (SERVICE)

Missing From:

London, England, United Kingdom

Summary:

Martin Duncan Allen, a 15-year-old British boy, disappeared while travelling home from Central Foundation Boys' School on the London Underground on November 5, 1979. He was last definitively seen alive at King's Cross St Pancras tube station at approximately 3:50 p.m. walking toward the Piccadilly line platform, although subsequent eyewitness statements indicate Allen may have travelled to Earl's Court tube station in the company of an adult male. Allen's fate remains unknown.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

Martin Duncan Allen was born on 19 October 1964 in Islington, London, as the youngest of four sons born to Thomas and Eileen Allen. His father was a chauffeur, and his mother a secretary at Tufnell Park Primary School. The family were working class and close-knit. In 1976, Thomas Allen gained employment as the chauffeur to the Australian High Commissioner, and the family moved into a five-bedroom grace-and-favour cottage in the grounds of the Australian High Commission in Kensington. Although described as a shy boy, Martin was an intelligent pupil, with a particular flair for French, mathematics, and drawing. By his fifteenth birthday, he was 5 feet 0 inches in height, slightly-built, and looked slightly younger than his years. His hobbies included photography, bicycling, drawing, and model railways. On Monday 5 November 1979, Allen travelled to school on the London Underground with his 17-year-old brother Jeffrey. The brothers travelled on the Circle line from Gloucester Road tube station to King's Cross St Pancras tube station, where they transferred to the Northern line to Old Street station. The brothers arrived at school shortly before 9 a.m., and Allen finished school at 3 p.m. He and a friend, Ian Fletcher, travelled home from school together on the Underground. Fletcher later told investigators he and Allen parted company at King's Cross St Pancras tube station, and that he last saw his friend on an escalator to the southbound Piccadilly line platform at approximately 3:50 p.m. Allen was wearing his school uniform and carrying a distinctive yellow schoolbag inscribed with the word 'Astral'. Fletcher was adamant Allen had been alone when descending the escalator. Police received six reports of sightings of a man 'forcibly guiding a small boy, his hand on the back of the boy's neck' onto a train at Gloucester Road tube station at 4:15 p.m. The train had been a Piccadilly line train bound for Earl's Court station, and the boy had been dressed in grey trousers and a dark blue blazer emblazoned with a crest similar to that of Central Foundation Boys' School, carrying a yellow schoolbag. Each witness described the man as being in his thirties. One eyewitness had seen the man prod the boy in the back before stating: 'Don't try to run!' The pair left the train at Earl's Court station—the man again warning the boy against attempting to run. The witnesses described the man as reasonably well-spoken, white, in his thirties, approximately 6 feet 0 inches in height and with distinctive blonde hair and a prominent moustache. He had been wearing a mid-blue denim jacket and trousers, and a shirt and tie.

Additional Details:

Allen's disappearance was not noted for over twenty-four hours as his parents assumed that he had stayed overnight with his brother and sister-in-law and would come home the following evening. He typically stayed there on Mondays as his mother attended fitness classes and his father often returned home from work late. His brother assumed Allen had returned home from school, possibly to attend Guy Fawkes Night celebrations at Battersea Park with their brother Kevin, so neither his parents nor any of his brothers realised he was missing until the following evening. Detective Chief Inspector David Veness was given command of the investigation, and numerous officers were assigned to the case. Extensive media publicity was devoted to the manhunt, with the Australian High Commissioner, Sir Gordon Freeth, also offering a financial reward for information leading to Allen's whereabouts. A composite drawing of the unknown man was released to the media on 8 December. Investigators eliminated 200 possible suspects, spoken to 50,000 people and collected 600 statements during the inquiry. In 1998 it was reported that police in Liverpool, acting on a tip off, had discovered a shrine dedicated to Martin at the home of an alleged paedophile. In 2009, detectives reopened the case and questioned two separate serial killers, Dennis Nilsen and Sidney Cooke, but there was no connection. Police informed two of Allen's brothers that the original investigation files had been destroyed in a flood at Kensington police station. Despite pursuing several renewed leads, the investigation was again closed down in 2013. In 2014, the Allen family were contacted by the Metropolitan Police about developments in their investigations into a paedophile ring allegedly including political figures, senior police officers and military personnel, specifically because of an investigation into historic child abuse cases occurring at the Elm Guest House in southwest London during the 1970s and 1980s. Statements (later found to be false) provided by an alleged survivor named Carl Beech indicated some perpetrators had also murdered at least three boys abused at the Elm Guest House—possibly including Martin Allen. Operation Midland was established by the Metropolitan Police in 2014 to investigate claims of historical child abuse allegedly overlooked due to the perpetrators being influential people. Original witnesses from 1979 were re-interviewed as part of these inquiries, but Beech's testimonies were subsequently discredited, leading to his 2019 conviction for perverting the course of justice. Operation Midland concluded in March 2016 without charges against any named persons of interest. The new Metropolitan Police investigation is called Operation Malswick. Although officially a cold case, Allen's disappearance has been subject to periodic review, and the case remains open. In 2009, Allen's parents, Tom and Eileen Allen launched a new appeal for information. They conceded they now had no hope of seeing him alive again, believing him to have been abducted. They stated their wish simply to know what had happened and why. The officer leading the new police investigation admitted that police were baffled by the case. Tom and Eileen have both since died.

Case Last Updated:

Jul 17, 2026