Murder in Paradise? Somebody knows.
Somebody knows what happened to my brother, Joshua Clayton.
Police Failures,
Absent Witnesses,
No Criminal Investigations,
Failure to Secure Forensics or Evidence = No Facts.
My younger brother went missing whilst living and working on an island in the Isles of Scilly, aged just 23. Josh Clayton was at a party held by Tristan Dorrien Smith, son of the family who has leased this corner of Britain from the The Duchy of Cornwall for generations. Robert Dorrien Smith, his father, is documented to be a life-long friend of HRH Prince Charles.
A huge search was conducted with little to no detective work or what you would expect from “real” Policing. We had to rely on the ‘Scilly Sergeant’ PS Colin Taylor throughout our time before and whilst on the island. In the immediate days of finding out Josh was missing we travelled to the island to do all we could…
Tresco was no paradise for us. My gut told me he was in the sea but the police refused to listen to my concerns. We were reminded several times by the police that we were only allowed there because the Dorrien Smith family allowed, so we had to keep the searches positive and focused inland whilst we had the time.
Unfortunately, the worst that we feared was true. Joshua’s body was discovered 10 days after he first went missing. Over 2 days after the search was called off. The ‘French Fisherman’ who discovered Josh has never been identified.
This kicked off the start of a nightmare run of events carried out by Devon and Cornwall Police throughout the calamity inquest headed by Ian Arrows (Coroner). This is well documented and you should familiarise yourself with the links and in-depth stories throughout the news websites.
The police defended themselves and challenged our submissions heavily for witnesses to come to inquest. Threats of summons were even suggested by our barrister at the 11th hour to ensure one important person attended.
A Post-Mortem examination was delayed for over two weeks. The pathologist was misled and didn’t give a thorough forensic autopsy. He also destroyed the blood stained clothes on instruction of Deborah Jago (Senior Investigating Officer in charge). The tape of her admitting this in a court hearing has also been ‘lost’.
In our fight for the truth we have had to endure two Inquests. The first was in January 2017, postponed on the third day due to Leroy Thomas’ evidence to the Coroner. He read yet another new (yet pre-prepared) account of what happened that night and incriminated himself and Tristan Dorrien Smith in the involvement and knowing of what happened to Josh before he made his way off into the thicket. He said Josh was running off to commit suicide.
Other people from Tresco refused to come to the first inquest. Tristan had not been questioned officially and was not going to be for quite some time, over a year after the first inquest, finally his memory had faded him. Nonetheless he couldn’t corroborate Leroy Thomas’ alleged conversation with him.
It has cost us money through the legal process. We are no closer to the truth. Our efforts to have people questioned were not allowed. The Coroner called no witnesses and the Jury was was not allowed to hear all the evidence as presented in the first inquest. The Coroner guided the second inquest Jury to their unanimous ruling. It was a whitewash. They can do what they want in the Coroners court.
People must come forward, people should be questioned.
I cannot agree with their finding whilst there are so many holes in the police investigation. We are only a confession away from the truth.
Our Police forces and Coroners have a duty to investigate suspicious deaths as per the European Convention on Human Rights:
Article 2 of the ECHR is a section of the law that underlines the Right to Life.
Coroners also have rules regading their investigations as set out in the Coroners & Justice Act.
I am going to show you how these laws were ignored, overlooked or pushed aside. After reading through this website you should have a new understanding of equality and priviledge. For example, I know I would be questioned if somebody went missing from a party I was hosting. Same for you too right?
Margaret Aspinall, champion mother of the Hillsborough victims spoke of the struggle for Justice and put it rightly so; “It was a massive cover-up and if they can do that on the scale of 96, what have they done to individuals?”.
Justice has a cost, the rest is luck. This is our reality, I hope you never come to experience it.
My brother had no such protections to his human rights in the immediate time after his death and we have no fair access to truth and justice. I no longer trust the police and waking up to that fact through this nightmare has shocked and saddened me.
To what extent does Article 2 impose a positive duty to uphold the right to life?
Considerably and in at least four respects:
(1) A duty to protect people against the risk of harm from the activities of public authorities
(2) A duty to investigate suspicious deaths
(3) A duty to protect people against threats to their lives
(4) A duty to provide arrangements to secure legal accountability for those responsible for a death.
ref: https://justice.org.uk/article-2/
Is it fair that because this took place on a privately owned island away from the mainland we were failed the investigation and could not have fair access to Justice?
Is it okay that the police pull rank and double down on their professional judgment when things are pointed out to them? What was the reason for their reservation to question witnesses?
Is too much power placed within the forces of this land to police themselves? Complaints are handled internally and we had our case placed on hold for years, only to be torn up and restarted.
Archive News Article Links
"Shocking" and "Unforgivable". He said the examination should typically take place within 72 hours and ideally within 24 hours. "The body is already decomposing... and so you bring that body out of the water and then you let it rot for another 15 days? Now that's unheard of," he said. "It is absolutely no surprise to me that after they subjected this poor man to these ridiculous delays and transfers in vans and morgues that they couldn't come up with a cause of death."
Prof Lemos said it appeared the police had approached the evidence believing there was no foul play. "When you go and look at something forensically it is not because you expect the world to be a nice place, it is because you expect criminal activity. "You assume something bad happened and you hope that all of the evidence will point to the other reason - that nothing bad happened to Josh."
Questions that still remain:
1. Why is Leroy Thomas not a suspect?
The witness statements and interviews by police, followed by the inquest appearace are all slightly different. All leaning from the beginning when he didn’t know who Josh was to the end when he admits hitting Josh and then going to look for him.
2. Why have the police failed to question Tristan Dorrien Smith fully about what he knew of the events that night?
It took them over 2 years to finally interview him. Police are happy with the excuses of poor memory and are not concerned that he cannot corroborate Leroy’s statements.
3. Why would the police never elevate this case to a criminal investigation based on probable suspicion?
By keeping the case as missing persons the trigger was held back from allocating resources or pursuing normal lines of investigation such as forensics, cross checks and locking down movement on the island.
Early 2020 Investigation and further work to be continued…
It is impossible to come to terms with all this. As time has gone on life continues for us all, however the daily nightmare still continues for me. I cannot think about my brother without a rush of questions and anger coming into focus.
In early 2020 I began setting out to talk to all the people I could find that were at the party. I approached 20 or so persons of interest, most were welcoming but some were not.
I was due to start meeting a few witnesses but then lockdown was called (Covid 19 has been unfortunate for us all and ongoing lockdowns and economic and healthcare struggle continue to be endured, alas there are current struggles and nobody wants to help with this case right now).
I have compiled as much as I can and there are clear holes in the police investigation that when you cross check all the witness statements, things don’t add-up.
I really wish someday a journalist reaches out to me that is seriously interested and will not be frightened off by the scale and complexity of the project. There is so much to publish but I don’t know where to begin.
20 Sept 2015, Cornwall Search & Rescue Drone Footage
The Search & Rescue team had a drone with them. The shot was taken outside the Shed which is not in view as directly below the drone itself.
The large ponds can be seen and the route through trees and down the thicket to the east of Tresco to get to the beaches.
It’s widely understood that unless you go to Tresco you cannot truly appreciate the topography and variety of the land, bush and moor on this 1.5 sq mi privately owned part of the Isles of Scilly.
All areas covered ensured that sufficient damage was done, no evidence of where Josh could have gone were remaining for the specialist trackers or detectives to find clues.
Further pictures in the interactive map & gallery below also show the route that police insist Josh took home.
Further pictures in the gallery below also show the route that police insist Josh took home.
"He walked the beach way home"
Aerial imagery of the area around the shed and the suggested way Josh walked.
We don’t know how Josh got to the beach. Nobody saw him go that way, yet he ended up in the water fully clothed with his backpack covering his face not to be found until 1o days later.
Visiting the scene it is incredibly difficult to understand how somebody could chose to go this way home, also alone when everybody was leaving around the same time.
Searches were conducted mainly on the land to find Josh. Because a bicycle and some other articles thought to belong to Josh were found near the Shed, the focus was on him being in a hedge, outbuilding or other small and sheltered space. I will cover details about these items in a further page posting very soon.
That night there was a New Moon (so no moonlight whatsoever!) and a lack of artificial light with no urban built up areas locally to cause light pollution. It would have been very dark indeed. The tide was low around 11pm, just several hours before Josh disappeared. Would you be walking the beach way home, also all alone, when there are perfectly good pathways and others to go with?
01. Tristan's Shed
Party Location, Josh Last Seen 01:30am 13-Sept-2015
02. Track Through Trees
03. Paths Between Tree Belt, Dunes & Beach
Looking East.
04. Narrow Through Gorse to Beach Down the Dune
Areas are steeper than in photos.
This would show the area with the easiest access to the beach, although would mean the walk is much more further and requires traversing more headland rocky outcrops
05. Looking North Through the Dunes at the Outcrops
The treeline and dense drop-offs through the dunes are visible even in the photos.
06. Steep Dunes & Thicket
The dunes are wall-like in areas.
Still 3 to 4 minutes walk to the first rocky outcrop:
07. First Rocky Outcrop
Timing to here is already around 14 minutes in the daylight and not in an intoxicated state.
08. Second Rocky Outcrop
22 minutes walking so far to get here.
09. Sand Boulders Looking up at Blockhouse Ruin
Nearly 30 minutes to here, the beach even at low tide has many obstacles.
The Police were certain that Josh went home alone via the beach. They put their hat on this theory really early. They did not want to cross check witness statements or rush to question individuals. We only rely on a few weak statements and dodgy evidence (see bike) that suggest Josh went this way home.
Click on the markers placed onto the Google Maps. The markers are annotated with photos taken at the exact area to show this route home via the beach. Starting at Tristan’s Shed will take you east to the beach and then north towards Old Grimsby. Other party goers all went in other directions at the same time, however none took the beach route home. It would be unusual to do so, yet one of Josh’s friends suggested he went home that way before?
Josh’s phone last pinged on the mobile network at approximately 1:30am. Originally the police were mistaken because of British Summer Time so believed it was actually 2:30am.
We know now that he was last seen just outside the shed at the same time his phone lost signal or it was switched off. His iPhone 6 was never recovered and Vodafone were unable to triangulate it due to the lack of masts in the area.
The Shed was the location for the end of season parties that Tristan (the son of the landlord) held regularly. Josh was last seen in this area outside the Shed shortly before the party was closed down. Normal routes home would be via the roads or paths as you can see them heading away from the area.
The police initially took witness testimony that suggested Josh would be intoxicated and on drugs. This was never the case as shown in the toxicology results.
The Jury in the second inquest were only allowed to focus on probability of events, no ruling has been given based on any facts. Since no evidence was preserved there was never going to be forensic traces or reliable information and clues.