A year before he vanished, Martin Joyce had been in a fragile state due to two bereavements. But when he did disappear he was back on track, insist his family.
The 29-year-old 'king of the family' was last seen on September 5th 1999. Last Friday was his 52nd birthday. Greater Manchester Police are treating the case as murder, but his sister begs to differ.
Mary Joyce said: "I don't believe he has been killed. But, I also don't know why his disappeared. He was the king of the family, the boss, a big brother. I think he is still out there."
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In 2016 Greater Manchester Police dug up the cellar of the Bank of England pub in Pollard Street, Ancoats, as they launched a murder inquiry. But the Manchester Evening News revealed at the time that the force had been tipped off three years earlier about the possibility that his body was in the pub - and not acted.
The boozer, now boarded up, was used as a function room for Manchester City fans on matchdays and is on a main pedestrian route to the Etihad Stadium. Nothing was found during the police excavations at the property. GMP had received 'credible' information that Martin had been killed during a fight and his body buried at the pub.
Martin had been living with his sister Mary Joyce, and brother, Michael, in Gorton, Manchester, when he went missing. Mary said: "His dad, also called Martin, died in 1998, and eight weeks later his brother, Douglas died after suffering an epileptic fit.
"The deaths hit him hard and Martin tried to kill himself by taking overdoses. When he came out of hospital for those he got arrested for driving offences for which he was jailed for nine months.
"When he got out he was back to the normal Martin we knew," said Mary. Martin was 29 when he vanished, and his son, who he never saw grow up, was seven. He was reported missing on September 7th 1999.
He was last seen at the Bank of England on the weekend of the 4th and 5th of September that year. Mary said: "I reported him missing but I believe because our family are Irish travellers it was not taken seriously. For years were kept raising it with the police and got nowhere. Eventually we approached the Manchester MP, Lucy Powell, and when she got involved the police attitude changed."
After the police dig in 2016, a fresh police appeal with the family was made in 2017, and another in 2018 when in an appeal led by DCI Stuart Wilkinson, a reward of £20,000 was offered for information which leads to the body of Martin being found or the conviction of those responsible for his murder.
In 2018 DCI Wilkinson, told the M.E.N how police have made exhaustive 'proof of life' inquiries - including checks with health authorities, HMRC, passport control, even retail loyalty cards - but all have sadly turned up nothing. They've also chased down possible sightings - as far away as Scotland - that have turned out to be false.
He told the MEN : "[Martin's disappearance] is completely out of character, he's literally disappeared in 1999 without any reason, which again is strange, we have had the information that he's been in a fight, potentially that weekend, we've had information that he's been in a fight and then buried in a pub."
Mary said: "The efforts made by Mr Wilkinson and his team we tremendous but we now feel like the case is closed. We have heard nothing for four years since then. I still need help to find out what happened to Martin."
Police searched the pub for two weeks but didn't find anything. Around then, Jimmy 'The Weed' Donnelly, who had been licensee of the Bank of England pub at the time Martin went missing, contacted the M.E.N.
Mr Donnelly has a reputation, not least because of a 2011 autobiography. In the sixties and seventies, he had been at the heart of the clique of businessmen, hardmen and Manchester underworld characters who came to be known as the 'Quality Street' gang. He told us, in the 2016 call, that he wanted to 'clear the air' as police attention focused on the pub he used to run.
Mr Donnelly told us he remembered Martin, one of 13 siblings, visiting his pub - and that Martin had had 'violent' but short-lived problems with the traveller community at that time.
But Mr Donnelly said he had no knowledge of what happened to Martin and wanted to see him come home safe to his family. "When Martin Joyce came in he always seemed to be on his own," said Mr Donnelly at the time. "I do not recall seeing him with any other people. As I remember rightly he had a push bike and he used to leave it outside the pub.
“He was one of many members of the travelling community that came into the pub and I knew them very well. In 1999 there was lots of trouble at the pub involving the travelling community but it was all sorted out. There were also massive problems within the travelling community at that time too. I just want to clear the air before anything is said. It has nothing to do with me."
In 2018 a suspect was interviewed under caution about Martin's disappearance, although that ultimately did not provide police with any further lines of inquiry. Speaking to the M.E.N. in 2016, Martin’s sister Helen McDonagh recalled him visiting her in Wythenshawe a week before he disappeared.
“I gave him a drink in a steel cup and a roll-up cigarette, and he made a comment saying he was better off in Strangeways, We were all having a laugh and I remember it as a great time. He was fine. He had no intention of disappearing."
GMP told the MEN that Martin's case remains open, is now with its Cold Case Review Unit, and officers would act on an new information. Anyone with information should contact the police on 0161 856 4717 or call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111
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