When a dog walker wandered through the debris of an old colliery on a Saturday night four decades ago he made a discovery that would shake a town to its core.
Beneath a mattress at what was by then a rubbish tip he discovered two schoolboys with head injuries so severe the wounds would, tragically, prove fatal. Forty two years later that land is now one of Merseyside's most popular parks and the scene of childhood games and family fun every day.
But while the tip is long gone, the terrible murders of John Greenwood and Gary Miller still haunts Stadt Moers Park in Whiston to this day. And the killer responsible for the deaths has still not been held to account despite the determined efforts of multiple generations of the boys' families.
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It was around 7.20pm on August 16, 1980, when the passer-by found John and Gary. Emergency services were called and they were both rushed to Whiston Hospital. Staff fought to help them but John died in the early hours of the following day and Gary succumbed to his injuries three days later.
A post mortem, held to establish the cause of their deaths, confirmed both died as a result of the head wounds they were found with. Unanswered questions and unresolved lines of enquiry remain to this day. A man was arrested and charged with their murders. He was cleared after a trial at Liverpool Crown Court. No-one else has faced prosecution.
The boys had gone out to play that evening with John celebrating Liverpool's 3-0 win against Crystal Palace that afternoon. Goals from Kenny Dalglish, Ray Kennedy and Alan Kennedy had led them to victory in front of just over 42,000 supporters at Anfield.
Gary, an Everton fan, had been given special permission from his mum after initially being told he could not go out to play when John had knocked at his door. What happened next is, to an extent, a mystery.
But it is a mystery that could be solved with the help of people who were in the Pottery Lane area that evening. Detectives have sought people who saw a man with three young boys - thought to have been aged between 12 and 14 - near to the church hall on Dragon Lane. They were spotted between 6.45pm and 7.20pm.
Two of the boys were reportedly stood on the church hall wall and the other in the grounds. Police have asked for anyone who may have been one of those boys to come forward. Another appeal point centred on an incident in the July of 1980, when two boys aged between 10 and 15 were said to have been seen being attacked by an older man outside Whiston health centre.
And then there is the search for a boy, also aged between 10 and 15, who went by the name of either 'Duffy' or 'Cuffy'. He was seen with another boy at the back of Whiston Labour Club on the day of the murders. Anyone who attended the 28th St Helens (1st Whiston) Scout Group (latterly known as the 2nd Knowsley Scout Group) in 1980 or anyone who attended Halsnead junior school with Gary and John has also been urged to help Merseyside Police.
*If you can help with any of those appeals you can contact Merseyside Police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111 or online here.
