Around 7pm on Saturday 1 November 2003, 14-year-old Charlene Downes was walking through Blackpool town centre with her older sister, Becki. They bumped into their mum, Karen, who was at work, handing out leaflets for a local Indian restaurant, and Charlene said she was off to meet up with some friends for the evening.
Karen waved her daughter goodbye, telling her not to stay out too late, and carried on with her shift.
That was the last time she ever saw Charlene. Two days later, she was formally reported missing.
Now, 22 years have passed and Charlene’s disappearance remains one of the biggest mysteries in Blackpool’s history.
I’m a Blackpool girl myself. I was the same age as Charlene when she went missing. She lived less than a mile from my house but we never met.
The story of her disappearance has haunted our working-class town for over two decades. She is still the subject of discussion – and rumour – both around the area and on local forums.
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For the last three years, I’ve investigated Charlene’s story for my podcast Charlene: Somebody Knows Something – an attempt to reclaim it from decades of distortion. Her case has long been sensationalised by the media and co-opted by far-right figures like Tommy Robinson and, more recently, Elon Musk. It’s more important than ever to bring the focus back to the truth.
New evidence – including further details about who else Charlene was with on the day of her disappearance – uncovered during my investigation is challenging some of the long-held assumptions about what really happened.
What happened to Charlene Downes?
When Charlene first went missing, police were slow to act, dismissing her as a runaway. But as the weeks went by and police started investigating, they soon discovered that Charlene had been a victim of child sexual exploitation – in numerous ways.
While investigating her disappearance, officers were only just beginning to understand the scale of abuse taking place in Blackpool’s town centre: Charlene, they found, was potentially just one of dozens of girls groomed and abused by men working in the late-night Blackpool economy. These girls were offered free food, alcohol or cigarettes in exchange for the unthinkable at the hands of older men.
While the police were beginning to understand the scale of abuse taking place in Blackpool’s town centre, they had little information as to where Charlene had disappeared to.
In 2006, two years after she disappeared, police arrested two takeaway workers, Iyad Albattikhi and Mohammed Raveshi, and charged them in connection with her murder.
At their 2007 trial, prosecutors pushed a shocking theory: that Charlene’s body had been disposed of by the men who had turned it into kebab meat. Overnight, she became known – locally and in the press – by the cruel nickname “kebab girl”. A 14-year-old victim of exploitation was reduced to a piece of meat in a headline.
Police have since admitted the “kebab” theory was false. There was no forensic evidence linking the men to Charlene, only rumour and unclear voice recordings deemed as unreliable evidence. Still, the nickname stuck, overshadowing her story for years.
The case was thrown out, and both men received around £250,000 in compensation for false imprisonment. Both denied ever even meeting Charlene, though several girls (some whom had also been abused, others familiar with the late-night scene) testified that Albattikhi had. When I spoke with him for the podcast, he said they must be mistaken – or lying.
Lancashire Constabulary’s current senior investigating officer, Gareth Willis, told me: “The evidence… that was relied upon in court has been fatally undermined and it's not accurate, it's not truthful. So, we all acknowledge that that evidence does not exist.”
Class bias and misogyny
As part of my investigation, I spoke with women groomed in Blackpool as teenagers. Many remembered Charlene and said that, when interviewed by police, they were often treated with disrespect – even blamed for the actions of the men exploiting them.
It was clear that class and misogyny shaped how these girls were seen. Had they come from wealthier families, would their experiences have been so easily dismissed? Would Charlene’s story still have been reduced to a horrifying nickname if she was from a different family?
Karen Downes, Charlene’s mother, has asked the same. Five years after Charlene’s disappearance, she told The Guardian: “I could not understand why the police did not put out information about Charlene on TV, and why only the local paper was interested in her disappearance. I often wonder, if she had been from a posh family, and was having piano lessons, would they have tried harder to find her?”
When I interviewed a retired officer who worked on the original investigation, he told me the case has never left him. He often thought about the attention given to other missing girls, like Madeleine McCann, and wished Charlene had received the same. He, too, believes class was a major reason her case never drew the same response.
Lancashire Police declined to comment when Cosmopolitan UK reached out to ask how class bias or misogyny may have affected the investigation.
Current lead investigator Gareth Willis said at least one positive followed: the creation of Awaken, a partnership between the council, social care, the NHS and police to better protect vulnerable young people. It was designed to fix the slow response and poor coordination that left girls like Charlene at risk.
But stigma persists. Victims of sexual abuse are still too often dismissed, and those from working-class backgrounds can be judged even more harshly.
Without evidence or conviction, many in Blackpool still believe the false kebab theory. Yet while attention centred on the takeaway circuit, there had been another group of abusers in Charlene’s life, who had access to her much closer to home.
New evidence in the case
Re-examining Charlene’s case and the coverage surrounding it, it’s clear far less attention was paid to the abusers closer to home.
One man, Ray Munro – a convicted paedophile – was staying at the Downes’ family home the weekend Charlene disappeared, while awaiting sentencing for child sex offences. Police confirmed to me that Munro was questioned over allegations he had abused Charlene and a friend, but he was never charged.
Another individual known to the family, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told Karen he was “in love” with her 14-year-old daughter. After Charlene disappeared, he admitted to police that he had paid her for a sexual act, but Lancashire Constabulary told me his statement couldn’t be used as evidence because it was made before he was formally cautioned.
Charlene’s parents insist they never knowingly allowed anyone with a history of sexual offending into their home. Leaked social service and police reports (covered by The Times) detail that around 16 men with prior convictions for sexual or violent offences had visited Charlene’s home in her lifetime. Her parents have always denied being aware of inviting men into their home with such convictions.
During my investigation, Charlene’s sister Becki also told me that on the day she vanished, Charlene met a man who called himself “Ronnie” and who gave her £70 in cash. Police have never established who he was or why he gave her the money.
Then, midway through making the podcast, I was contacted by a woman who shared new and compelling information about “Ronnie’s” true identity – details that could change how we understand the case.
There were so many opportunities for police and social services to step in and protect Charlene, but they were repeatedly missed and mishandled. Her bad behaviour at school may have been dismissed as just that, but perhaps it should have been a red flag to indicate she was a girl experiencing trauma in her life.
Charlene’s case remains unsolved, but I hope that people listening to our series will get a better understanding of her life, her disappearance, and the complex issues that impacted the coverage of her story.
There is still a £100,000 reward on offer for anyone who comes forward with information that leads to a conviction.
Somebody out there knows something. We can only hope that person finds the courage to come forward and give Charlene the opportunity to finally get the justice she deserves.
Listen to 'Charlene Downes: Somebody Knows Something' by Nicola Thorp and The Crime Desk wherever you get your podcasts
