01x04 - Episode 4

[bunniefuu]

Every day I do think of her.

Sometimes I look at my grandkids
and I remember Nicola being like that.

Nicola would do things like that.

I do remember all ages of her.

Yeah, yeah.

I’m kinda glad that there isn’t just
one fixed image.

I still can remember Nicola in all ages.

I think you could pretty much go up to
anybody in Coventry and say,

“Nicola Payne” and they’ll tell you
what happened that day.

MARTIN SLEVIN: It’s one of the greatest
unsolved crimes in this country.

REPORTER: Nicola Payne had left her
boyfriend and baby son

to go to her parents.

She simply vanished into the mist.

It’s just hitting home that summut
serious has happened to my sister.

REPORTER: A team of police officers today
began a yard by yard search

of the waste ground
where Nicola was last seen.

MALCOLM ROSS: It was the biggest search
that West Midlands Police

had ever encountered.

Every effort, it seems, is being made
to find Nicola Payne.

If anybody is holding Nicola, just take
her somewhere, or to just phone anybody.

I kept thinking, where’s my Nicola gone?
Where’s me Nicola?

MALE: What happened to Nicola
could happen to any woman.

How can an 18 year old disappear
and just never be seen again?

It’s just a never ending real life
horror story.

The truth.
That’s all we want is the truth.

If it was your sister,
when would you give up.

REPORTER: Last year a jury cleared
two Coventry men

accused of Nicola Payne’s m*rder.

REPORTER: Brothers in law, Nigel Barwell
and Thomas O’Reilly,

seen on the left with a beard,

were cleared of any involvement
in her disappearance.

Nicola was not only our daughter,

but a loving mother to her son, Owen,

and sister to her four older brothers.

She deserves to be laid to rest.

As a family, then we have somewhere
to visit

and at least get some sort
of closure on this time.

We cannot contemplate not knowing
where Nicola is for another 24 years.

I think Marilyn and John were just
completely heartbroken after the trial.

Everybody had put all their eggs
in one basket.

We finally thought we’d get answers
and we were back to square one.

You know, where do we go from here?

We can’t give up on her.

Well, it was a complete let down in court.

During the trial we used to say to them
like, you know, how about this,

how about that?

And we kept asking questions
and they kept saying,

“No, we’re alright.
We know what we’re doing.”

But it never worked out.

MARTIN SLEVIN: What can you say
at a time like that?

You can’t really give any crumb of comfort
in a time like that,

because everybody has worked so hard
to get to this day and this position.

And it hasn’t gone the way that we
thought and hoped it should go.

Marilyn and John were never gonna give up
on trying to find the truth for Nicola

and neither did I.

And very soon after the trial,

we had new information
come in to the investigation

about a sighting of two men
on the day Nicola went missing,

in and around the area we had searched,

at the right time, acting suspiciously.

[clock ticking]

AMANDA EALES: We were made aware

that there was an incident
in Coombe Abbey Fisheries.

There was people spotted in the bushes

and that there was a bit of
a confrontation.

MARTIN SLEVIN: The information
that the witness told us

was the on the afternoon
that Nicola disappeared,

around 3.30, 4 o’clock,

he’d actually stopped at the Fisheries
to see how the fish were biting

and he intended to come here
the next day and fish.

He noticed a car had parked
just where I am now.

It was the only other car apart from his.

And he saw a man at the passenger door
and spoke to him briefly and said hello.

And as the witness walked back
towards his car,

he saw a second man coming out of
the woods to the righthand side.

And this man was startled to see him also.

The man that had come out of the woods,

beckoned to the man at the side
of the car to grab the witness

and said, “He’s seen us, stop him.
Let’s grab him.”

The man that was at the car door said,
“No, let him go.”

In that moment of indecision,

the witness was able to jump back
into his car and lock the door.

But the second man ran to the gate

and tried to close the gate
to prevent him from driving off.

Fortunately, the witness was able to
drive out of the car park and escape.

When he gave us that information,

obviously we were concerned as to
why he hadn’t told us that before.

We’d been searching in the Coombe Abbey
area over the previous three years.

And what he said was

that he didn’t connect that incident
with Nicola’s disappearance initially,

because all of the activity around
Nicola’s disappearance

centred on the Black Pad,
where she’d been last seen.

It was only when

the witness had watched the trial
of Nigel Barwell and Thomas O’Reilly

and had followed that trial
in the local media,

that he actually learnt that they had been
driving a blue metallic Ford Capri.

And he stated that the car he saw
was a metallic blue sports type car.

What that led to was a further search
of this area of Coombe Abbey

that hadn’t previously been searched.

[clock ticking]

PETER WILSON: The police have now begun
searching a new location

at Coombe Abbey Country Park,
after a witness came forward.

MARTIN SLEVIN: It was an incredibly
difficult area to search.

There was dense undergrowth,

there was 25 to 30 years
of fallen trees and debris.

The area had never been husbanded before.

We’ve been searching here in Coombe Abbey
for the past eight or so weeks.

And that’s following a credible witness
coming forward,

that gave us the information about the day
Nicola Payne went missing

on the 14th of December, 1991.

In order to maximise the opportunities
on that search,

we again sought the services of the
scientists, plant specialists,

search experts,

and we cleared the whole
area for over 200 metres.

Interestingly, we found old bottles and
debris of shoes and boots

that had been dumped here after the w*r.

And we compared those shoes

with the shoes that we knew Nicola
had been wearing

on the day that she’d disappeared.

And we knew that she
had new pixie boots on.

But it was quite clear they were not
the same shoes.

Throughout all of these searches we kept
the Payne family fully up to date

and fully informed.

And I thought that was important because
it demonstrated to Nicola’s family

that we wouldn’t give up searching for her

and we would react to any new intelligence
or information that came to light.

It was a huge area
and a massive police search.

Huge resources put into it.

But this witness appeared to be credible.

And again, the family were caught up
in the expectation

that this was going to be a breakthrough

and even though he was in poor health,

John Payne, Nicola’s father,
came down to the area.

There was hope that something significant
would be found.

We still had that hope of finding Nicola

even after all what we knew
and what we’d been through.

AMANDA EALES: You try not to
get your hopes up

and we’re all quite good at saying that
we’re not gonna get our hopes up,

but I think secretly inside you just can’t
help but think, is this gonna be it?

You know, because surely at some point

things have to change
and go in our favour.

PETER WILSON: Once again, the police,
they said that they were confident.

They said that if Nicola Payne
was at Coombe Abbey,

they would find her.

Unfortunately, they didn’t.

MARTIN SLEVIN: After ten months
there was still no sign of Nicola

and we couldn’t find any
evidence that she’d been there.

AMANDA EALES:
We were completely deflated.

We can’t always have everything
against us.

One day someone will tell us
where she is

and she will be there and we’ll get what
we need and what Nicola deserves.

MARTIN SLEVIN: From the information
that we have

and all of the intelligence that we have,

my firm belief is that on the day
Nicola disappeared,

at some point in the afternoon
she was brought here

with the intention
to dispose of her here.

I felt that we’d thoroughly
exhausted the search areas

in Coombe Abbey Country Park.

Certainly based on intelligence.

But there are other areas of the park
still to be explored.

And we’re waiting for that intelligence
to come forward

to allow us to go in
and utilise all of our resources

in those particular areas.

It’s a vast Country Park.

But my firm belief that Nicola
is buried either here

or somewhere very close to
this area.

I reminded myself of the very first
conversation I had with John and Marilyn.

I said to them that I would
work tirelessly

to try and bring those responsible for
Nicola's death death to justice.

However, I might never
be able to tell them

actually what happened to Nicola
on the day.

PETER WILSON:
The police have learnt lessons,

but there’s something like
a hundred thousand people

every year leave their families,

seem to go off the grid,
so it’s a huge number of people.

It’s a tiny number of people
who are k*lled.

And what helps most of all is,
unfortunately, when there’s a body there,

because a body provides, especially now,

so much evidence, so much information
that the police are able to follow up.

When you haven’t got a body,
you don’t have access to any of that.

HAZEL JOHNSON: This case could be resolved
forensically if we could find Nicola.

At that scene we might find
a little bit of evidence.

A piece of vegetation,

a piece of soil that could link back
to something

that we examined back in 1991.

Equally, there could be something that
the offender has left behind.

Cigarette end, a fingerprint.

Again, something that would
actually resolve the case.

I asked John and Marilyn
this question

early on in the investigation,

“If it was a choice between
bringing Nicola’s K*llers to justice

or finding Nicola,

which would you choose?”

And overwhelmingly, without pausing
for breath, both said,

“To bring Nicola home
and lay her to rest.”

And that’s the fight now.

And I would never give up on trying to
find Nicola’s remains

and laying her to rest.

Marilyn and John,

all they ever wanted was to just
find out where she is.

You know, that’s the priority.

Justice is something else,

but the absolute priority, and it still is
to this day, is where is she?

I don’t think there is anyone
in this family that will ever say,

you know what, we’re just gonna
let her stay out there

wherever she is on her own.
Never.

We’re always gonna look for her.

MARTIN SLEVIN: What happened to Nicola
could happen to any woman.

When I see stories similar to Nicola’s
in the national media,

and whether it’s an abduction
and a missing person,

or whether it’s a, you know, senseless
k*lling of a lone female,

it saddens me.

It saddens me we live in a society where

women in particular can’t go about
their daily activities

and business without fear of being
attacked, you know, m*rder*d.

REPORTER: Sarah Everard’s disappearance
has rocked the country,

leaving women everywhere thinking,
it could have been me.

Since Sarah’s death, 109 women
have been k*lled by men in the UK.

On average it’s two every week.

And whilst Sabina Nessa’s death took too
long to reach headlines,

many don’t at all.

That’s making women on these streets
feel unsafe.

WOMAN: Sabina was meant to be out of
her house for five minutes.

That’s 300 seconds.

This girl could not go 300 seconds
in broad daylight.

It is horrible to never be able to relax,

to constantly have to be on your guard.

Every time you see a story that there’s
a woman missing or been m*rder*d,

it just throws it all back again.

It just reminds you,
it just kicks it all back in.

‘Cause you put the memories
kind of away

and then every time you hear a story,
they come forward to your mind again

and it just all opens it all up again.

I’m Jess Phillips, I’m the Labour MP
for Birmingham Yardley,

and I am the Shadow Minister for
Domestic Abuse and Safeguarding.

I’ve been working in the field of
violence against women and girls,

or more accurately men’s violence
against women

for nearly two decades now.

REPORTER: Sarah Everard’s disappearance
has sent shockwaves throughout the UK,

with many women taking to social media
to express their distress,

but also their own personal strategies
to cope with the fear of attack

when they walk alone at night,
or even in the day.

JESS PHILLIPS: At least every two
or three days in our country a woman

is m*rder*d by a man.

If the same rates of people were dying
week in, week out at football matches,

during the football season,

you’d take note, wouldn’t you?

Tracy Kidd, Nelly Mustapha, Zahi Debi...

The list I read out every year
is a list of the women

known to have been k*lled,

where a man is either the prime suspect
or who has been convicted.

Kelly Stewart, Josephine Kaye...

It’s called the Femicide Census, so it’s
a list of the femicides from that year.

Shadika Mohsin Patel, Maureen Kidd,
Wendy Morse...

We just tolerate the m*rder of women
as one of those things

that just happens
as part of sort of society.

And I read the list of names out
for that reason.

To try and show the extremity of it.

The trouble is, it is so well
settled in our life that, you know,

generations, our heritage
is male domination

in the culture and in
relationships literally of women,

and unless you keep that pressure up
to change culture, it all slips back.

And that, I fear, is where we are now.

Yeah, I think that we are not in a time
where the tide is advancing

in the direction of tackling this.

I think it is in retreat.

Huge cuts to services, huge cuts
to the criminal justice system.

So I’m afraid that’s had a massive impact.

Now the focus has to be on
educating men from a young age

about how their behaviour can affect women
and make them feel unsafe.

And make them stop and have
a zero tolerance approach.

REPORTER: What needs to change to make
women feel less afraid on our streets?

Some are arguing women have done
all they can, and enough is enough.

These stories suddenly hit you every time.

And it stirs it back up.

And then your mind goes through

and you’re like, what the families
are going through,

you understand
what they’re going through.

You see the parents.

They’ve got the look that
my mum and dad had.

And you just know they’re
heart breaking inside.

REPORTER: The photographs
have started to fade,

but memories and the torment of
not knowing what’s happened

to their daughter, Nicola, has haunted
John and Marilyn Payne.

I just want answers.
Just want to find her.

Find out what’s happened to her.

That’s all that matters
at the moment.

I’ve gone through the whole of
the grieving process.

All I need now, I’m just stuck at the end.

I just need a body to lay to rest.

There is very little support for families
who have suffered homicide.

And there is even less support
for those where no justice is served.

There needs to be way more
support and recognition of them

as victims in their own right.

I think every time I ever see that
a young girl’s gone missing on the telly,

you just instantly feel for that family,
‘cause you’ve been there, you know.

And you just really, really pray

that they don’t have to suffer
for the length of time,

even if it’s not a good outcome.

But they don’t have to wait
like we’ve had to wait.

I know my mum has reached out to
several other families

and been part of their support,
and had discussions with them.

And I know it relives it for my mum.
My mum lives it every day.

My dad lives it every day.

They say time is a healer.
Time is not a healer.

You just get used to the pain
and it becomes normal.

[clock ticking]

Sadly, in 2017, I transferred from
West Midlands Police to DyfedPowys Police.

And it was extremely difficult to tell
John and Marilyn that I was leaving.

In some ways I felt like
I was abandoning them.

I felt like I was letting them down.

But I’ve remained resolute
in my promise to them.

And I’ve supported a number of
campaigns and projects

to continue to highlight
Nicola’s case.

And I’ll go to my grave

still working tirelessly
for the Payne family.

I feel the police feel there’s
nothing else they can do.

And they’ve done as much as they can do.

And they’ve got no other leads
to chase and follow up.

NIGEL PAYNE: I don’t know who to contact
if we get any more information.

To me, there’s nobody on the case.

There is people I can ring up
and like inform,

but it’s not really
their baby anymore.

To me it’s on a shelf somewhere.

Same as quite a lot of others I presume.

My name is Shaun Edwards.

I’m Detective Superintendent

and I’m Head of Homicide
for West Midlands Police.

So the state of the investigation
is still very much open.

It is one of those investigations that
are under the review team.

We still monitor.

Can’t begin to understand what the Payne
family must be going through

over the last 30 years.

It’s been termed a ‘never ending m*rder’

and without Nicola being found,

without people being brought to justice...

I can see why that is called that.

What I can say is

the West Midlands Police,
and certainly the homicide team here,

are committed that any credible
intelligence about Nicola’s whereabouts

or evidence that will bring those to
justice who are responsible for that,

we will follow that up.

[clock ticking]

Good evening.
The family of Nicola Payne,

the Coventry mother who
went missing 26 years ago this week,

have made a renewed appeal
to find her body.

AMANDA EALES: I think after the trial,
it was very, very hard of any of us

to get motivated to try and carry on
searching, appealing,

I think everybody just felt
completely battered.

But in time you shake it off.

We’re quite good at doing that in our
family and we thought, you know what?

It’s not over just because
the court says it is.

We can still do things on our own.

So we decided that as a family
to make a fresh appeal.

Everybody got involved.

And we just gave it
a new lease of life, really.

Nicola Payne’s family are making
this anniversary, the 26th,

the most personal
and the biggest yet.

Family photos never released before.

A video to be played at Coventry City
FC’s next home game.

That wish to see Nicola returned
is stronger than ever before.

Her parents are both now in their 70s.

This was the moment when they realised
just how much their family are doing

to keep alive their campaign.

MARILYN PAYNE: It’s just been
the hardest year for her anniversary,

because we’re getting older
and you just think,

it’s not gonna happen
while we’re still on this Earth.

We’ve always tried our best to keep
the story alive every year.

Get things moving, but, you know,
I had to say to them a couple of years ago

like, Nigel the oldest, I said,
“You’re gonna have to take over.

I can’t handle it no more.”

DALE PAYNE: Now me mum and dad
are getting older,

it’s definitely coming down to us brothers
to keep it alive and keep the story going.

And we’ll never give up
until we get answers.

MELANIE EALES: Both Marilyn and John
have suffered in different ways.

Marilyn will talk about it,
but John, he’s very withdrawn.

He doesn’t like to talk about it,

and it's definitely affected them
health wise.

SCOTT PAYNE: It has took a great toll
on their health.

It really has.

Stress of it all.

GARRY PAYNE:
They’ve been through so much.

It seems to have hit my dad
really hard

because she was the only girl
of five.

She was like his little angel.

His baby.

And he didn’t go to bed for
about six months when it happened.

He used to sit in the chair.

He wouldn’t lock the door.

Just sat in the chair,
waiting for her.

He said, “I don’t lock her out
if she comes home.”

Just sat there,
wouldn’t go to bed.

And he’s a different man
since it happened.

He’s just in a world of his own.

Just in a world of his own.
Totally destroyed their life.

Totally.

It’s been very hard for us.

We’ve lost our girl.

And we could never get over it.

Something you never get over.

To watch your mum and dad
just disintegrate in front of your face,

time and time again.

It’s about having their hopes raised and
dashed, raised, dashed, raised, dashed.

Because we’ve had no luck
from day one.

No luck in the ID parade,

no luck in court,

no luck in the search,
no luck in anything.

So, I thought,
how can we keep this going?

What can we do to keep
the story alive?

And tried to breathe a bit more life
into it.

So, okay, we’ll have a vigil.

We’re gonna have like a candlelit vigil.

[clock ticking]

I said no, we’re not having it
on the Saturday,

which would have been
when she went missing.

We’re gonna have it the day before.

Because my dad saw Nicola
on Friday evening.



I would love to know what happened
within them 17 hours.

So, we’re trying to throw things
in the ring to spice it up a bit

Let’s ask the awkward questions.

Because, as a family, we are not happy
with that missing 17 hours

and the answers we’re getting back.

But the priority was to remember Nicola.

It was very emotional.

AMANDA EALES: We just thought it was
a really great opportunity

for the community to come together
to show the family that they still care,

that they haven’t forgotten.

So, we did the vigil and we
called it #lightupherpath

and we just asked people to bring a candle
or bring a torch or something

and we walked the Black Pad,

the path that she should have
taken home to safety,

but obviously
didn’t manage that.

ADELE DUNCAN: So it was nice to be
around her family, her friends,

the local
community.

And it just goes to show the support

that the Payne family have around them.

It was great to see that people
are still remembering.

And even the new people on the estate
were out for it as well.

It was really good that the community
is all still listening

and involved in the case.

NIGEL PAYNE: Quite humbling the amount
of people turning up today.

It’s a massive, massive thank you from me
and the family.

My mum and dad can’t be here today.

My mum’s not very well
at the moment and...

and Dad’s actually at home,
just like taking care of her.

They’d love to be here
and they generally always are.

Again, this brings it home to myself
the age that they are,

to try and get some sort of answer
just for them.

Yeah, I think the boys will never
let it lie.

They’ll do anything they can.

And they’ve now got children

and their children are quite keen
to keep it going.

NIGEL PAYNE: I just can’t find
the words sometimes.

And it’s great to see all
the younger members of the family,

because although we’re getting old now,

after 30 years of it there,
I know without a shadow of a doubt

the younger members of
the family here will carry this on.

Yeah. Because we will never ever
stop looking.

Never ever give up.

MALCOLM ROSS: I’m sure that everybody
in Coventry is aware of Nicky Payne.

I think you could see that when
so many people turn up to the vigil.

[applause]

If you mention Nicky Payne’s name,
the vast majority of people say,

“Oh, I remember that.”

And it’s because of the efforts
of John and Marilyn

to keep the story
going, and their family.

One minute to us...

MALCOLM ROSS: And I think it’s wonderful
what they’ve done.

It’s been organised by family members,

a vigil where around 80 people turned out
earlier this evening.

And I’ve been talking to the family
about their quest

to find the truth about Nicola.

It means everything to the family because
it just shows us that other people,

as well as us, want to keep this going,

want to keep it alive,
and we’ll always remember Nicola.

Talking to people here tonight, they all
said that they remember that weekend

when Nicola disappeared, and everybody
just simply wanted to know the truth.

I always thought this sort of thing
happens to other people,

don’t happen to you.

You see it in the news and that,
but it did.

GARRY PAYNE: All sorts of things
are going through your head.

They really are.

One day revenge, next day leave it.

After the trial, I just decided then,
just I’m putting it behind me.

Putting it to rest.

Getting on with my life.

DALE PAYNE: It’s controlled our lives.

All my brothers lives,
Mum and Dad’s lives.

It’s kind of controlled it from that day.

Any family meetings, any family dos,

the conversation all comes generally
back to that.

So, it’s hard to get away from it.
Very hard to get away from it.

So, I chose to try and keep my children...

They know about it, but they’re not
involved too much with it,

and just let them try and lead their life
as good as they can.

I moved away.

It does help we’re not
seeing Coventry anymore.

Not driving down the Henley Road
looking across at the fields.

That helps, it not being there
consciously.

But she’s always there.
She comes with me.

MALCOLM ROSS: For me, it is
a significant case in my memory.

Because I often wonder where is she?

Who’s responsible?

I often wonder how
Mr and Mrs Payne are coping with it.

How the family are coping with it.

How Owen is growing up without his mum.

I often think about that.

PETER WILSON:
It’s been a huge story for me.

I’ve grown old, my hair’s gone grey,
I’ve actually retired.

You know, you see so much.

I’ve just been on the side-lines
but I’ve stood watching the Payne family

and the anguish that they’ve gone through

and you really feel,
as a human being, for them.

One part of me is I keep saying
it’s the two M’s.

I don’t know if I’m mourning
or just missing.

And it’s that that you’re
torn apart with, you know.

Throughout my police career

I’ve been involved in some of
the most high profile investigations

and m*rder investigations,

but this is the one that leaves
the biggest scar, I’d say,

on my career,
I guess, because it’s unsolved.

We haven’t brought closure for
Nicola’s family by finding her body.

We haven’t got a positive result at court.

Which is why it’s incredibly important
that documentaries of this nature

continue to be made,

continue to highlight not only
Nicola’s case, but similar cases.

This documentary
keeps the story of Nicola alive.

It tells Nicola’s story.

The last thing you would think is

to be in a documentary
about your friend

that’s been missing for 31 years nearly.

It’s not something that
I am enjoying doing.

However, I feel that I owe it to Nicky.

SHAUN EDWARDS: Anything we can do
to keep this in the public’s mind,

that can maybe trigger people’s memories,

but equally, people’s allegiances change.

They may well assist the police
and come forward.

And things they thought
weren’t important at the time,

more intelligence can come in
that we can act on

to find Nicola
and bring justice to Nicola’s family.

AMANDA EALES:
People’s loyalties change.

People’s health deteriorates

and they might have something
on their conscience

that they just don’t want to
take with them to their death.

I think any opportunity that we get
to tell this story

and to let people listen to, there was
a girl called Nicola Payne

and she disappeared off the face
of the Earth and nobody can tell us why.

Because the alternative is that we just
all forget it and go away

and you have to think, well, if that was
someone you cared about,

would you just
give up? No, never.

This is probably our last hope.

This is something hopefully I can show
me mum and dad

and say, we’ve done
everything we can.

Where do we go from here?
I don’t know.

When people go missing
and there’s nothing...

it’s just, I don’t know,
there’s an emptiness.

There’s just a...
there’s just a nothing.

Hence, we wanted to do some
sort of memorial for Nicola.

For me mum and dad,
‘cause they’re getting old.

AMANDA EALES: So, recently we’ve had
a bench installed in memory of Nicola.

Obviously we don’t have her body,

we’ve got nowhere as a focal point
to go to.

You know, if someone’s having a bad day

or just go and have a chat,
you know, “I’ll meet you at the bench.”

We feel like if she’s anywhere,

she could sort of maybe channel herself
there and spend some time with us.

And it’s just a really peaceful,
fitting tribute.

Myself and Adele,
who is Nicky’s best friend,

we would often go
and have a chat there.

I took my best friends there to break
the news to them

that I was expecting
my first baby.

It’s almost like involving her
in the conversation,

which, had she been here,

then I’ve no doubt she would have been
and putting her penny’s worth in.

So it’s including a lot of nice things
and a lot of sort of conversations

and people go on their own
and have a reflection as well.

It’s really important
that we’ve got that now.

ADELE DUNCAN: One evening Amanda
gave me a quick ring and said,

“Do you mind coming up and meeting me?”
So we come up here.

We had a look around

and we decided that this is probably
the best spot for her to be.

And it’s just nice.

It’s peaceful, and it’s the place
to come and reflect.

AMANDA EALES: So we never actually
told Nicky’s parents

that the bench was a possibility,

‘cause there was always a chance
it wasn’t gonna happen.

But once it was finally installed,

we came up and checked it,

and then a few days later we brought them
up on a Sunday morning.

A lot of the family were here.

And we just walked them down
and surprised them with it.

NIGEL PAYNE:
Bit of false pretences we got you here.

Did ya?

I don’t know where you thought
I was taking ya,

but I bet you didn’t think
you were coming here, did ya?

No, I should find him...

MELANIE EALES:
Do you wanna come and sit down?

NIGEL PAYNE:
Got you a little bench.

JOHN PAYNE: They done it
and they surprised us about it.

They said, “Oh, we’re taking you out
one Sunday morning,” and...

“Where are they taking us?
Where are they taking us?”

But when we see that, oh, it’s lovely.
Lovely, yeah.

MELANIE EALES: Ah, they were overwhelmed.
Yeah, yeah.

It really took them back,

that now they’ve got somewhere
to just go and sit.

JOHN PAYNE: The lads and the cousins,
they’re always thinking about it.

They’re always trying to help us,

anything to do with Nicola,
they’re always there.

[laughs]

AMANDA EALES: They were really
overcome with emotion,

‘cause I think they’ve waited so long
to just have that place

where they could just go and sit,

because they’ve just been
in no man’s land, really.

There’s never anywhere for them
to just remember her properly.

DALE PAYNE:
The memorial bench was a great idea.

I’ve been up a couple of times myself
since it’s been there.

It is, it’s a really good touch.
It’s really good.

My mum and dad love it.
They’re up there all the time.

They’re always up there.

JOHN PAYNE: Oh we’ll just go up there
and sit there for a while

and just think about her.

It’s just nice to...

We’ve got somewhere we can go
and just think about her.

Think, well, this is Nicola’s little spot.

And we can come here, ‘cause we’d
got nowhere else before that.

Nothing.

This has gotta be one of the last...
probably the last picture of Nic.

-Yeah, all of us together.
-We’ve got all of us.

Yeah, like I say, she’s pregnant there.

NIGEL PAYNE:
Now that’s Nan and Granddad’s 50th.

And who would have thought
that’s our last picture together?

DALE PAYNE: I do sometimes wonder
what she would be like now.

She’d have been a doting mother.

Well, she’d have had two or three
more kids and that.

Which I think she would of, I think
she would have had a good family.

And she always wanted a good sized family.

DALE PAYNE: But I do think of her
as that girl, that cheeky little girl.

Little sister all the time.
That's the last memories I’ve got.

NIGEL PAYNE: You can take pictures
on your phone nowadays

and you can have them all like that,

but I don’t think it ever replaces
getting old pictures out.

Just brings back good memories.

It’s really strange how I imagine Nicola,

because to me,
I’m still a child compared to her.

I still look up to her,
I still idolise her,

whereas she’s
actually frozen in time.

RACHEL MOFFITT:
She’d always be 18.

To think now we’re nearly 50,
it’s our whole lives gone, hasn’t it?

She’s still as I seen her last.

Forever young she’ll be.


She’ll always be that mischievous
little sister

that got took away from me
and I’ll never be able to have again.

I can still picture her.

Once she stood at our door
on that Friday night,

I can still see it in my mind.

Her and our Owen.

Hmm.

And it’ll always be there.

Yeah.