On Boxing Day 1996, in the working-class estate of Chelmsley Wood, Solihull, near Birmingham, England, two young friends stepped out to play and vanished without a trace. Patrick Warren, aged eleven, and David Spencer, aged thirteen, became known as the “Milk Carton Kids” after their faces appeared on milk cartons across the UK—the first such campaign for missing children in Britain. Nearly three decades later, their disappearance remains one of the country’s most haunting unsolved cases, widely presumed to be a double murder.
Patrick, often called Paddy, was a lively eleven-old who had received a brand-new red Apollo bicycle as a Christmas gift just days earlier. David, his best friend, was thirteen, described by his family as an “adorable” but rebellious boy with a passion for boxing. He had faced challenges, including petty offenses that led to exclusion from school, but was deeply loved by his family.
On the evening of December 26th, 1996, the boys left their nearby homes intending to play outside and possibly visit one of Patrick’s older brothers. Earlier that day, a police officer had spotted them playing near a frozen pond in Meriden Park and warned them of the dangers. They returned home briefly before heading out again.
Their last confirmed sighting was just after midnight on December 27th at a gas station (formerly a Shell station) in the area. A worker gave the hungry boys a packet of biscuits. Patrick’s prized bicycle was later found abandoned behind the station, hidden near rubbish bins.
When they failed to return, their families reported them missing the next morning. Initially, West Midlands Police treated the case as a runaway situation, citing David’s troubled history and the boys’ “streetwise” nature. Critics, including criminologists, later argued this delayed a full investigation, possibly influenced by the boys’ working-class background.
The case gained national attention through appeals, including a BBC Crimewatch reconstruction. In a groundbreaking move, the National Missing Persons Helpline placed their photos on Iceland supermarket milk cartons, earning them the “Milk Carton Kids” moniker.
Early leads, such as searches of local lakes and ponds, yielded nothing. In 2003, a man was arrested but released without charge. The breakthrough came in 2006 when the case was upgraded to a murder inquiry (Operation Stenley) and linked to Brian Lunn Field, a convicted child sex offender and murderer.
Field, who lived in Solihull at the time, had been jailed for life in 2001 for the 1968 abduction, rape, and murder of fourteen-year-old Roy Tutill. He had a history of targeting boys, including a 1986 conviction for attempting to abduct and assault two others. On the night of the disappearance, witnesses reported seeing Field driving a white van erratically in the area while intoxicated.
Police questioned Field multiple times in prison, suspecting he lured the boys into his vehicle—possibly willingly if they knew him locally—before killing and disposing of them. Searches of land linked to Field, including digs in 2006, found no evidence. He consistently denied involvement, and lack of physical proof prevented charges. Field died in prison in February 2024, taking any secrets to the grave.
Other discoveries, such as human bones found near a Jaguar Land Rover site in 2020, raised hopes but were determined to predate 1996.
As of late 2025, no bodies have been recovered, no one has been charged, and the case remains open.
Crime Immemorial 