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 As with everything we state on this blog, all the statements can be backed up with further evidence in the way of emails, audio or visual recordings. In most cases this involves a combination of the aforementioned.

The facts surrounding Ambroses case and how, it is still being dealt with by police within the borough of Haringey, specifically Enfield, Colindale and Wood Green.

Timeline of events for the first week.

1. On Saturday the 24th January 2015 at approx 8 a.m. Ruth is alerted by Ambroses flatmate that Ambrose had not returned home. She is told that Ambrose had been involved in a number of incidences the night before at the Fox pub and, that he had been involved in a car crash down by the marshes, before disappearing.

2. Ruth phones the police at approx 9.30 a.m. to report Ambrose missing. She explains that Ambrose had been involved in a number of fights  the night before and, that he had also been involved in a car crash. She is given the CAD number.

3. On the morning of 24th January while searching for Ambrose Ruth and AM came across  wheel and parts of a BMW and Ambrose’s number plate. Ruth took photos of these items in situ and reported her findings to the police.

 

In addition to taking a number of photographs, Ruth had also made contact with the dedicated missing persons unit at Colindale police station via Rebecca Bird.

Ruth also continued to send Ambrose text messages and stayed in contact with Ambroses’ friend JW and Ambroses’ ‘flatmate’ AM…

Here is a text from one of Ambroses’ friends JW. he along with his wife KW, some other people and Ruth. had been searching as soon as they became aware that something serious was wrong …

During the day of the 24th, as the police had refused/failed to come out despite several calls from friends and family (not just Ruth); had failed/refused to take details regarding Ambroses’ accident and the circumstances of his known last movements or offer failed/refused to offer any advice as to what to do, she had to take things into her own hands.

So as any desperate Mother would do when looking for a child who has disappeared, Ruth went out with some of Ambroses’ friends and stated sticking posters to every surface they came across.  Unfortunately when they returned the following day, most of these had been removed, so needed replacing…

4. Ruth officially reports Ambrose missing to Colindale police at 10 p.m. Saturday night, as she had been told in  previous phone calls, that as Ambrose was an adult she had to wait 24 hrs.  However, after explaining once again about the circumstances in which Ambrose disappeared in (as she had done previously)., this time she was informed that as there were mitigating circumstances, the usual 24 hr rule didn’t apply.  

Below is an account from one of the people, who was at the marshes with Ruth and a small group of friends on Saturday 24th January 2015…

5. Two police officers based at Colindale police station, attend Ruth’s home to collect more details at approx. 10.30 p.m on Saturday 24th January 2015. 

95% of their questioning was around gangs, drugs and street crime.  As you can imagine this upset Ruth and other family members who were present.  Their questions never related to a missing person at all, and they seemed uninterested in the despair that Ruth and other family members were feeling.

At this visit they also asked Ruth if she wanted to sign 2 sheets of paper regarding media exposure. After reading these Ruth agreed to sign one, which was for media attention, but refused to sign the the one because it stated that they could use and print whatever information they found out or was told about Ambrose. Her reason for this was because less than a couple of months later, someone she loves dearly, her second Son, was lied about in the press, which had devastating consequences for them as a family.

6.While out searching Tottenham Marshes on Sunday 25th January with a group of friends, Ruth and a number of other people were constantly phoning the  police, voicing  their concerns regarding Ambroses’ sudden disappearance following a car crash.

While speaking with the police, Ruth explained that she felt Ambrose was still there. The police officer told her to stay right where she was and, that she would get back to Ruth after speaking with her superintendent. Ruth and the friends stayed for another 3 hours without as much as a returned phone call.

Sometime later they were approached by a security guard who informed them, that they had received a phone call from the  police. The police had told the security guard to tell everyone to leave the marshes and make  sure they were escorted off. At this point they had no choice but to abandon the search for Ambrose.

Below is another statement from one of the people who was at the marshes on Sunday 25th January 2015 and on subsequent days …

 

7. The police requested Ambrose’s toothbrush for DNA testing, which they had requested fom Ambrose’s flat mate. Unfortunately this person decided to go to his mothers house, pick up a new toothbrush, scuffed it up a little by rubbing it against a wall, so that it looked used and handed this to the police. When we asked him why he did this he couldn’t give us an answer. We passed this information on to the police at Colindale as soon as we were aware of it.

8. We were informed by the same friend that the police had told him that the car had been towed away by the police at approx. 3 a.m Saturday morning.

9. Ruth and I attended Colindale police station with some of Ambroses clothes and his real toothbrush, at approx. 10 a.m Monday morning. When we arrived at Colindale police station the police officer at the desk had no information on his .P.C regarding Ambrose or any of the calls made by Ruth. We explained that Ruth had called the police station a number of times and that she had also received a ref number. We showed this to the police man. He again checked and said that he could see no information, he then said that he was going upstairs to talk to the dedicated missing persons team. After 40 minutes and no communication we approached the PC at the front desk and asked him what was going on. He informed us that someone from the dedicated missing persons unit would be with us shortly. We asked him why no details about Ruth’s call or Ambrose’s case were available for him to see on his PC. He explained that as it was a weekend there was an overlap and that all the information wasn’t uploaded onto their systems until this morning. We asked why information relating to Ambroses car were passed onto a third party instead of his mother, he couldn’t give us an answer, but did say that it shouldn’t have happened. After approx another 15 minutes the person from the dedicated missing persons unit introduced herself and explained that she was the one Ruth had been communicating with since Saturday the 25th January. She told us there was no further information she could offer us. We asked her why information was being passed onto a third party instead of his mother. She said that the dedicated missing persons unit only consisted of 3 people, of which she was one and that none of them had spoken to anyone outside of the force regarding Ambrose’s car. We asked how it was possible for this third person to get this information and she could not offer us an answer. We also informed her of the car crash Ambrose was seen to have had on the Saturday night on Leeside Rd near Tottenham Marshes. We showed her photographs of the number plate, a wheel that was laid  against the railings and loose debris. She glanced at these but didn’t ask for any copies or any other information. She  simply threw the bag that contained Ambrose’s belongings on the counter behind her and continued to chew on an apple…

10. On Monday 26th January 2015, at approx. 14:00 hours, while searching for Ambrose we came across a caravan, which was right at the bottom of Leeside Road.

AM, not knowing that Ruth, a number of other people and myself were already on our way, phoned Ruth. Ruth told AM that we were on our way and he said not to bother as CID were there and were not letting anyone through. At this point we could see AM in his car and as we approached, he got out of his car and started to walk towards us. Ruth and I both asked him where the CID were and he told us they had left. It was at this point that I knew AM had been lying to Ruth all along, as there was only one way in and out, and no car/s had passed us. Ruth and I continued to walk down Leeside Road with AM following closely behind, with AM constantly telling Ruth and I that we were looking in the wrong direction. Once we reached the bottom we found a caravan which looked as though it had been there some time. There was a load of rubbish around it. Ruth and I tried to get into this caravan, but we couldn’t. The caravan windows looked as though they were covered i foil, which made it impossible to see inside. There was a tiny piece that looked as though it was coming away and I did try to see if I could see inside, but I couldn’t see anything.

Ruth and I then tried for about 10 minutes to get into this caravan, but we couldn’t. There was no way we could gain access. After failing to gain access to the caravan Ruth and I continued to walk down, until we came to a bridge. We then went over this bridge and continued to search along the river. We found nothing. After walking for some time, AM got a phone call from JW, telling him that AD and he had found a jacket down by the river. We all made our way back to our cars. Ruth and I got into our car with Chris and the other people we were with got into their own cars and, we all followed AM to where JW had told him the jacket had been found.

11. After being there for approx an hour one of the people helping us search found a coat  towards the bottom of a field just before a fence that lead into one of the rivers. The police were phoned immediately. Two police man arrived within 20 minutes and asked us to show him where the coat was, we took him to it. For the next 6 hours we all remained at Tottenham Marshes. In that time a total of about 10 police officers arrived, of which one was a dog handler and accompanied by an Alsatian and a helicopter arrived to do a search. I asked the police handler that if Ambrose was still here would the dog be able to find him. He explained that the type of dog he had was not capable of picking up a scent after 4 hours. I expressed the view that if this was the case this particular dog wasn’t much use as Ambrose had been missing for 72 hrs now. I also explained that the coat was in too great a condition to have been outside for 72 hours. The coat was clean and dry and I didn’t believe it would have remained in such a condition had it been subjected to the elements within the environment for a period of 72 hours in the middle of winter and, on a very wet and rainy weekend. However I was later told that the police had discounted the possibility of it just being planted there, although they haven’t told us how they came to this conclusion. At the scene the police collect additional information from family and friends. At approx. 5/6 p.m. the police helicopter, dog search and police search was called off due to poor light. Just to note as the jacket was found at Tottenham Marshes the local force Haringey became involved as it was their jurisdiction.

12. On Tuesday at approx. 2.30 p.m. we return to both the crash site and Tottenham Mashes to continue to look for Ambrose and clues. The number plate, debris and wheel were still in place. This areas remain unsecured. Ruth and I, along with some people went back down to the crash site and the marshes to continue to search for Ambrose. We started by covering old ground and made our way down Leeside Road. When we got there we noticed that the caravan I had seen the previous day, and which has been seen constantly by Ruth and a number of people the previous weekend, had disappeared. All the rubbish was still there, there was also a pale blue plastic bowl which was half filled with a dark brown liquid, a towel and next to these was white sock. It also looked as though the concrete posts had been freshly replaced. We notified the police of our concerns regarding this straight away. The police arrived and said it had nothing to do with Ambrose. They said that the sock had nothing to do with Ambrose and the liquid was hair dye. We continued to search the river and marshes for a few hours before we were approached by the police again, and told to stay away from the area. Again we found nothing during this search. EXCEPT the removal of the caravan.

13. Tuesday evening Ruth receives a visit at home from the police based at Colindale. They ask her a range of questions that relate to Ambrose, which were very similar to the ‘gang related’ questions that the previous officers had asked. During this interview Ruth receives a call from Haringey police informing her that they were now  taking over from Colindale Police. This conversation was put on load speaker so that everybody could hear what was being said. On hearing this the 2 police officers who were questioning Ruth left immediately with no further words spoken.

14. On Wednesday while visiting the still unsecured accident area, we discovered that somebody had taken the wheel, although the debris was still there.

15. Although the relationship between Ruth and the family liaison officer started off good, Ruth lost trust and confidence once she discovered she had been lied to by her. She also feels that this person with the help of Sharon Freeman Woods were trying to get her sectioned under the mental health act, in order to get her out of the way. I have to say, as a by-stander, it certainly appeared that way.  Once Ruth expressed these views the relationship between the two changed. In a very frustrated and upset state Ruth explained that she didn’t want to hear from this officer again unless it was to let her know that they had found Ambrose. She explained that every time the police number showed up on her phone she was physically sick and would have severe panic attacks. As any mother would, she is finding this ongoing situation almost unbearable. Ruth has had no communication from the police since.

16. Today Saturday 31st January 2015 we are going to continue to look for clues into what has happened to Ambrose. We don’t feel that the police have acted and followed the correct protocol. We feel that the car crash scene should have been sealed off immediately and that the car should have been taken to a secure site for investigations later.  We also feel that once the jacket was found that area of the marshes should have been taped off and photographs should have been taken in situ.  We feel, that taking into account the mitigating circumstance, Ruth’s concerns and pleas should have been taken more seriously and, that Ambrose’s case should have been graded as a higher priority than it was;. We believe that the police sent in the wrong dog for this search as Ambrose had been missing for over 72 hours at this point, so a dog that could only track scent for 4 hours was in effect useless.  In a nutshell we believe that if the police had listened to Ruth’s concerns at 9.30 am Saturday 24th January 2015 Ambrose would have had a better chance of being found by now, carrying out a physical investigation of the concerning areas and securing them immediately, would have also helped limit any cross contamination which would render the area/s useless.

17. We feel they have failed both Ambrose and Ruth and as a result of this the search for Ambrose was not only delayed unnecessarily but any hope of survival that Ambrose had would have disappeared drastically after the first 48 hours.