A mum who vanished on what was meant to be a short walk to meet friends is still missing nearly 35 years on. Mother-of-three Stephanie Rose Whittaker, from Newport, was 34 years old when she went missing in March 1990.
In the last three decades the case has received little media coverage and no fresh appeals have been launched. But awareness of Stephanie’s disappearance was rekindled earlier this year when a Freedom of Information request prompted Gwent Police to confirm Stephanie was “still regarded as a missing person”, which in turn led to the case being discussed on the Persons Unknown Podcast.
According to a 1994 episode of BBC’s Crimewatch, police considered the disappearance “highly suspicious”. But hints as to Stephanie’s whereabouts have been elusive. Months into the search, the lead detective told our newspaper, the South Wales Echo: “Basically, we don’t have a bloody clue.”
Stephanie — also known as Stevie or Steve — was described as 5ft tall, blonde and with blue eyes. The Sun reported that the Bristol University psychology graduate worked for the Gwent Health Authority as a home adviser for people with learning difficulties. Before the birth of her youngest child — who was just 18 months old when Stephanie went missing — she had been on a counselling and communication course at Allt-yr-Yn college.
On the evening of March 23, 1990, Stephanie said goodbye to her husband Tony at around 8.25pm and began the walk from their Llanthewy Road home to the town centre. Tony, then 37, told the Echo his wife was planning to go out “after a family night of domestic rush, much like any other”. She left him in charge of the children, Tom, 12, Rose, nine, and 18-month-old Adam.For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter
According to the Sun she was due to meet girlfriends at a spiritualist meeting at St John Ambulance Hall in Caxton Place, less than half a mile from her home. For Stephanie this was a common Friday evening activity and was typically followed by drinks at a nearby pub.
Archive photographs of Stephanie Whittaker
Stephanie phoned the home of one of her friends to say she was running a little late for the 8.30pm meeting. The phone was answered by the friend’s husband, who informed Stephanie the friend had already set off.
The Sun reports that the route Stephanie would have taken would have been busy with people and reasonably well-lit. According to Tony she left the home with just a couple of pounds in change and “no cheques or credit books”. But Stephanie never arrived at the meeting — at some point between her home and the hall she disappeared.
Tony said he went to bed at around 12am with an “element of concern” which increased when he woke at 3am to find his wife still not home, which he said was unprecedented. At 5am he called one of Stephanie’s friends, who confirmed she had never made it to the meeting. He then alerted police.
“It just wouldn’t make any sense for her to leave,” said Tony at the time. “If Steve was under pressure and just wanted some space I would respect that. If she’d left her family for good willingly, I wouldn’t believe in anything anymore.”
The family had celebrated Tom’s 12th birthday the night before Stephanie’s disappearance at a pizza restaurant. According to a contemporaneous report in our Wales On Sunday newspaper, they had been looking forward to a holiday in west Wales. Stephanie’s mum Treffina Jones said her daughter had told her as she prepared for the trip: “I’ve never been so happy”. In the same article, Tony said: “Nothing makes sense, nothing seems logical.”
Maureen Ballinger, a college friend of Stephanie’s, said at the time: “She loved her kids so much. I used to joke about it and even called her Earth Mother. She gave up her job for her youngest child because she didn’t want to miss any part of his growing up. I just can’t believe that she would have left her children and had a happy marriage. She had no reason to up and go.”
Also quoted was neighbour Alan Anstice, who said: “She lived for the three children. She dotes on her little boy and spends lots of time in the garden with him. She was so devoted to her to the children, if she had just gone off I feel sure she would have contacted someone.” For our free daily briefing on the biggest issues facing the nation, sign up to the Wales Matters newsletter here
A week after the disappearance a handbag containing makeup was found on the pavement outside a local pub. According to a Western Daily Press report, investigators were trying to determine if the bag was Stephanie’s. Meanwhile, police staging a reconstruction of the walk were said to be concerned at a lack of public response to appeals. “We need to impress on people this is a highly suspicious disappearance,” said Detective Superintendent Wilf Hill, who was leading the search.
There was contact from one couple who claimed to have seen a woman in distress sitting alone on a bench in Westgate Square at 9.30pm on the night Stephanie disappeared. And a couple of weeks after she went missing, police said there had been a possible sighting in Hereford. Then, in September 1990, a Norfolk newspaper reported that police were anxious to trace a woman “with a Welsh accent” who took a taxi from Lynn to Hunstanton in early August. A cab driver who picked up the woman at Lynn’s Manhattan nightclub had then spotted a missing person poster and believed his passenger could have been Stephanie.
At the time, police said they were convinced Stephanie was no longer in Wales but they were still “working on the assumption that she is alive”. Tony, a housing manager, was reported to have hired a nanny so he could go back to work and support his family amid the search.
In March 1991, there were reports of a possible sighting at a pub in London, but this too came to nothing. By June that year, a detective named Bill Glynn was in charge of the case. He spoke about having sleepless nights over the search, adding: “I pass her house almost daily and she is constantly in my thoughts… Basically, we don’t have a bloody clue.”
When she went missing Stephanie was reportedly wearing a pin-striped blue and white shirt, dark trousers, black ankle-high boots, and a three quarter-length navy blue waxed Barbour-type jacket. In a recent statement to the Sun, a spokesperson for Gwent Police said: “Stephanie Whittaker, now 68, was last seen on March 23, 1990, after leaving her home address in Newport at around 8.30pm. She is described, based on details provided at the time of her disappearance, as white, around five foot tall, with blue eyes and blonde shoulder length hair.”
WalesOnline has asked the force if the case is being actively investigated. If you have information that could help police, call 101 and quote reference number 2300205250.
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