Police have renewed their appeal for information about the apparent murder of a dad last seen outside a pub 15 years ago.
Former boxer Ray Shearwood was last seen alive outside the Alt Park pub in Maghull, Liverpool, at around 4.45pm on August 19, 2007. Police viewed the disappearance as a crime and quickly launched a murder investigation.
The Bootle dad-of-three went to the pub after spending the morning with his young daughter. He was last seen walking towards a VW Golf outside the venue.
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In May 2005 he had been jailed for five years for drug and money laundering offences. When police raided one of the six homes in Sefton he owned – along with a tanning salon and a café – they found around £60,000 in a safe.
Mr Shearwood told detectives at the time he was a boxer and had received the money from prize fighting. The court heard that between February 2002 and February 2003 he was said to have earned around £250,000 which he used to buy six properties.
He pleaded guilty to two charges of conspiring to supply drugs, money laundering and tax evasion and was jailed for five years. Detectives hope that people who were reluctant to talk to police about his disappearance at the time might now choose to do so due to the passage of time.
A Merseyside Police spokesperson said to the ECHO : “A murder investigation is never closed, and we are taking this opportunity to appeal again to the community for help with our investigation. Allegiances may have changed over the past 15 years, people may have moved from the area or may be in a different situation, and now feel in a position to talk to the police. We will ensure that any new evidence or information is closely investigated by detectives.
“What we do know is that on Sunday, August 19, Ray spent the morning with his then 8-year-old daughter before dropping her off at home in Bootle with her mother. At around 4.45pm the same day, Ray was seen parking his green Ford Mondeo (registration VK02 BHA) in the car park of the Alt pub in Maghull. We believe that he got out of this vehicle and walked over to a VW Golf sports edition which was also parked up.
“That was the last sighting or any sign of communication by Ray, so I want to take this opportunity to continue our appeal for anyone in that car park on the day, or who may have seen Ray since, and help us give his family some answers after all this time.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact the social media desk @MerPolCC, call 101 or you can call or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111. You can also use their online form at: https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/give-information.
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