In 1988,15-year-old Lee Boxell disappeared from his home.
Since then, Lee’s parents, Peter and Christine, have been left without any information about his whereabouts.
78-year-old Peter recounted the story to Your Local Guardian, and he said: “It was September 10, 1988, and I got up in the morning along with my wife and daughter.
“Lee got up a bit later and he came downstairs in his pyjamas and slumped down in an armchair, and I told him that I was going to do some shopping in Sutton after dropping his sister off at a friend’s home.
“His sister was staying overnight at her friend’s, and his mum was going to Bromley to look after her mother because Lee’s grandma was ill.
“And I asked Lee what he was planning on doing during the day, and he just mumbled.
“And I thought, since he’s half asleep, I’m not going to wake him to ask him.
“So, we left the house, said cheerio, and left Lee half-asleep in the living room in the armchair in his pyjamas.”
This would be the last time that Peter ever saw Lee again.
When Peter returned from shopping, Lee was nowhere to be seen.
Peter added: “I’d assumed he’d gone out to Sutton with his friends, which he usually did on a Saturday.
“As the evening came, I was making dinner and I was expecting Lee to come home, but there was no sign of him.”
In 1988, unlike today, there were no mobile phones for Lee to be able to contact him and simply had to wait, hoping Lee would return.
Peter explained that he wasn’t too worried at first, as Lee was over 15, recalling how, at the same age, he often stayed out late as well.
He understood that Lee could have forgotten to call, but said it was “unusual” for Lee because “he was very caring and considerate”.
Lee was a member of the Sutton United Supporters Group and would occasionally go for the away matches with the supporters if it wasn’t too far.
Knowing his mother would worry, Lee would often use a phone box and ring home to assure his parents that he was safe and returning.
“It was out of character,” Peter said.
As the night came on, Christine rang Peter and asked if Lee had come home.
Lee hadn’t and Christine panicked, rushing straight home from Bromley.
Peter said: “We rang hospitals, in case he had an accident.
“We rang friends, and relatives, knocked at neighbours’ doors to see if they knew what happened to him, and the only thing I could think of was that he had a very good friend who lived two doors away.
“And so, I waited until they got home, and I asked him if they knew where he was.
“They had no idea.”
From that point on, the couple started to panic even more and rang the police.
The police reportedly told them not to worry and that they would send somebody to their home in the morning and it was not unusual for a 15-year-old boy to be out late.
The next day, the police officer drove around Sutton with Peter, but there was no sign of Lee.
Peter said: “It was a living nightmare for me and Christine.
“We were awake all night, just in case the doorbell or the telephone rang.
“The living nightmare went on for weeks, but over the next few days, the police made lots of enquiries.”
The police were convinced that it was out of character for Lee to be away without contacting his parents and concluded that there was no reason for Lee to have run away as there were no apparent problems at home or school.
The police grew increasingly concerned for Lee and an appeal for information was broadcast about Lee on ITV News later.
Paul explained that this was very unusual in 1988 because the media wasn’t interested in missing boys at that time.
After police carried out further enquiries, they discovered that Lee had gone to Sutton High Street on the morning of September 10, 1988.
They later discovered he’d been with his friend Russell and the pair had plans to go to a football match later in the day.
A witness came forward and said that they had seen Lee at Sutton station, and another said they’d seen Lee outside a Tesco on Sutton High Street at 2.20pm.
This meant it was unlikely that he would have made it to any of the football grounds in the area in time for a 3pm kick-off.
From that point on, none of the appeals for information came to anything and police got no leads at all.
Paul said: “It wasn’t until 25 years later in 2013 that the police heard that a convicted paedophile William Lambert had claimed he’d murdered our son and buried him in the graveyard behind St Dunstan’s Church in Cheam.”
Lambert was a graveyard digger at St Dunstan’s and was jailed for 11 years in 2011 at the age of 75 after he was found guilty of sexually abusing four girls.
Lambert was also running an “unofficial youth club” called “The Shed” in the graveyard.
Another witness later came forward with a sighting, saying that he’d seen Lee coming from, but “might have been persuaded to go to this youth club”.
Paul added: “They think that if Lee had witnessed some abuse or crime going on in The Shed, he would have gone to get some help.
“This is only theoretical, but some of Lambert’s relatives could’ve murdered Lee, maybe accidentally, but they would try to stop going for help.
“This Lambert boasted that he’d murdered Lee and buried him in the graveyard.”
In 2013, police excavated the graveyard, looking for remains.
However, police were unable to find any proof or evidence, and there was still no forensic proof that Lee had been murdered.
With this lack of evidence, Lambert couldn’t be convicted.
In the same year, Peter was invited to sing a song at the church after he had told someone that he dreamt he was singing a song about Lee the night before.
His friend agreed to help him with the song and arranged for him to go to a recording studio.
Despite some initial reluctance, James went on to sing at the church service in front of 800 people.
Peter said: “It was cathartic for me because I felt as if I was singing to my son.
“It was such a wonderful experience, and that kept my mind off worrying what was going on in the graveyard.”
His friends James Hawkins and Claire Cook, who had agreed to help him, came up with the idea of helping people who were in a similar situation.
Together, they formed the Missing People Choir in 2014, and the group appeared on Britain’s Got Talent in 2017, leaving the show in eighth place.
The Missing People Choir most recently released two songs: I’ll Be Your Home, featuring TikTok star Låpsley, and This Christmas Day, featuring singer-songwriter Fiaa Hamilton.
Peter said that he and Christine chose to keep Lee’s room unchanged, and they still refuse to change homes, adding, “We’ve lived here since the house was built, and because Lee went missing from here, we just couldn’t bear to move in case Lee came back.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen now, but I just couldn’t think of moving now”.
Lee went to Cheam High School and aspired to become a policeman when he grew up.
The family simply want to know what happened to Lee “more than anything” and has pleaded with the public to come forward with any information that they may have on his whereabouts.
Paul said: “If anybody knows what happened to Lee, please, please contact the police.
“Of, if they need to be anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers.
“There is a substantial award of £20,000.”
