Eleven-year-old Allan Graham lived with his older brother and his sister-in-law in a house on Gerald Street, Benwell, Newcastle, England. On Saturday, January 24th, 1970, the boy was sent to a shop called Appleton’s down the street to purchase some cigarettes. In the course of this errand, Allan completely vanished.
The following day, his strangled body was found by a farmer in a ditch near Callerton Grange Farm in Ponteland, approximately seven miles from where he had last been seen alive.
During the investigation, police fielded a witness report that stated Allan had been hailed by a man in his mid-twenties, driving a wide blue work van with double doors on the back. According to the witness, the man had called Allan by name, and that the boy appeared to know him and presumably got into the van. Family members later confirmed that Allan must have known the man, as he was far too streetwise to get into a vehicle with a stranger.
Despite this promising lead, the inquiry went nowhere, and no arrests were ever made in connection with the crime. The murder of the eleven-year-old schoolboy remains sadly unresolved.
Crime Immemorial 