Terry McSpadden

Status:

Open

Jurisdiction:

norfolk-police

Missing From:

Elm, Cambridgeshire

Summary:

Terry McSpadden was a 24-year-old father of two from Elm, Cambridgeshire who disappeared on March 2, 2007 after spending the evening at the Locomotive pub in Wisbech. His electronic monitoring bracelet signal was lost at 8:43am that morning, and he never arrived at work. Despite extensive searches, his body has never been found, though a coroner ruled in 2016 that he probably died on the day of his disappearance.

Vital Statistics

Circumstances of Disappearance:

On the evening of March 1, 2007, Terry McSpadden spent time at the Locomotive pub in Wisbech playing darts with friends. In the early hours of March 2, 2007, he was last seen on CCTV at a Tesco store in Wisbech at approximately 1:10 AM, where he was withdrawing cash and purchasing goods. He was accompanied at Tesco by Jonathan Porter, the friend he was staying with at an address in Outwell Road, Elm. McSpadden told Porter he was going home to nearby Elm but never arrived. The electronic monitoring bracelet he was wearing (required as part of a court order for a recent minor drinking-related offence) last pinged at his location at 8:43 AM that morning. When he failed to show up for work at Economy Windows, where he was employed as a labourer, family and friends became immediately concerned. He was declared a missing person shortly after.

Additional Details:

Two weeks before his disappearance, on February 17, 2007, McSpadden experienced a traumatic incident. He reported to family, friends, and his probation officer that he woke up at Porter's house completely encased in industrial-style cling film or bubble wrap and felt as though he was suffocating. He believed he had been drugged, either via injection or chloroform, and was cut free by Porter. This incident left him terrified and suspicious, making his sudden disappearance more alarming to those close to him. McSpadden's phone was active for two to three days after his disappearance, and someone sent messages from it. His hand-painted black Giant mountain bike, which he relied on for local transport, was never recovered. In 2011, Jonathan Porter was arrested on suspicion of murder. He was charged with McSpadden's murder in December 2012 and appeared before Norwich Magistrates' Court. However, the case was dismissed in March 2013 by a judge citing insufficient evidence. At the inquest in November 2016, Porter attended but did not answer all questions following advice from his lawyer. In his statement from the weeks after the disappearance, Porter claimed he left the house before 7 AM on March 2, taking most of his belongings with him. He also claimed that in the hours before leaving, McSpadden had admitted to hitting a young girl and that Porter had tried to encourage him to go to the police. A coroner's inquest was held in November 2016, where coroner Jacqueline Lake recorded an open verdict. Based on the balance of probabilities, she ruled that McSpadden died on March 2, 2007, though his body has never been found and no confirmed medical cause of death could be determined. In May 2025, human remains were discovered in a field on Lynn Road in Wisbech, though identification and testing was ongoing at the time of reporting. The case remains unsolved. In 2014, Crimestoppers offered a £5,000 reward for information. As of February 2025, cold case detectives renewed appeals for information on the case, which had gone unsolved for 18 years. Norfolk Police has stated the case remains open to new leads and information.

Case Last Updated:

Aug 03, 2026