Mark Billington

Status:

Open

Offense Location:

South Yardley, Birmingham, England

Summary:

Mark Billington was a 15-year-old schoolboy who disappeared on September 1, 1984, after leaving his home in South Yardley, Birmingham to fly a kite. His body was found two months later hanging from a tree in woodland on the edge of Meriden, near Coventry, nearly seven miles from his home. A coroner concluded in 2026 that Mark was murdered, overturning the original open verdict that treated his death as a possible suicide. The case remains an unsolved murder with no one ever charged.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Offense:

Mark completed his usual paper round and left his house around 11am on September 1, 1984, heading towards a local park on his bike to fly a kite. The alarm was raised later that day after Mark failed to arrive for his evening shift at the newsagent where he worked. His parents last saw him sitting on their kitchen step before they left to go shopping at around 9:30am. He said goodbye to his grandfather and brother Russell Billington at about 11:00, before heading to The Rec, a park near their family home, with his bike and a blue kite with a crimson pink tail. Witness sightings placed him in a number of locations near his neighbourhood that morning, including the Birmingham and Bridgewater Building Society on Church Road where he deposited his £8 wages. That day, his jumper and building society passbook were found in the shed where his bike and kite were normally kept. His kite was found in a hedge behind the family home two weeks later. The boy's body was found on 11 November by four men who were ferreting in the woodland in Meriden.

Additional Details:

Police at the time treated the death as a suicide, but it became a murder inquiry in 2002. West Midlands Police reinvestigated the case in 1998 and began investigating it as a murder in 2002. Three people were arrested over the years, but no one has ever been charged. The initial inquest recorded an open verdict after the death was treated as a possible suicide. The coroner found that crucial evidence was destroyed by police in 1984, preventing a resolution to the case for 42 years. Senior Birmingham and Solihull Coroner Louise Hunt ruled that Mark was unlawfully killed. She said: "It's extremely unlikely he could have harmed himself in the way he was found hanged. I'm satisfied that Mark was murdered and there is no evidence that he took his own life." The inquest heard that it was extremely unlikely the teenager could have tied the unusual rope system himself. Pathologist Dr Brett Lockyer told the hearing that the rope had been "tied unusually" and that Mark, who had a weakness on the left side of his body, would probably have been unable to make the knots. Detectives continue to have a theory that Mark's death was linked to a bottle scam in which people took fizzy drink glass bottles to shops in exchange for a deposit, then stole them back to return again. The family believes Mark may have been a victim of Brian Field, a convicted pedophile who died in prison in 2024, though no charges were brought against him during his lifetime. Mark's sister Cheryl Jeyes said after the inquest: "We've finally received some sort of justice after 42 years of heartache. Four days after celebrating his 15th birthday our beloved brother Mark was murdered. That was 42 years ago." Mark's mum Wyn died two years ago without knowing what happened to her son.

Case Last Updated:

Nov 14, 2026