PICTURED: Leah Croucher suspect Neil Maxwell is DEAD

The prime suspect in the murder of Leah Croucher was today named as a convicted sex offender who was on the run from police when the 19-year-old disappeared – and killed himself two months after she vanished. 

Neil Maxwell was the only person with keys to the house in Milton Keynes where human remains were found in the loft alongside the missing teenager’s backpack. He had been employed by the Kuwaiti owners to carry out maintenance work while they were away.  

At the time Leah disappeared in February 2019, the 49-year-old was still being hunted for an alleged sexual assault on a woman in Newport Pagnell four months before – with Thames Valley Police making 18 attempts to arrest him.

Today, police faced questions about their failure to catch Maxwell and bring him into custody – something that could have prevented Leah’s death. 

He took his own life in April 2019. 

The house where human remains were found had also been occupied by Alex Johnston, a 30-year-old paedophile who once appeared on 24 Hours in Police Custody. 

But he was in prison at the time Leah disappeared after being sentenced to four-and-a-half years in June 2017 for five counts of engaging in sexual activity with a girl aged between 13 and 15. 

Detective Chief Superintendent Ian Hunter told a news conference today: ‘Today, I am able to confirm that we have nominated a suspect in this case. His name is Neil Maxwell.

‘It is unusual to name a suspect, but we have also learned this week that during the time when Leah went missing, and whilst the owner of the property was not in the UK, Maxwell was the only person to have keys to the property.

‘Maxwell had been employed by the homeowner to carry out some property maintenance at the house. We now know that Maxwell had keys to this property from November 2018.

‘Whilst Maxwell has been nominated as a suspect, this does not mean he is guilty of any offence. We will keep an open mind, and our detailed investigation will seek to gather sufficient evidence to establish the truth. This may or may not implicate or exonerate Maxwell or any other persons from the investigation.’ 

At today’s bombshell press conference, it emerged – 

• Police named the prime suspect in the murder of Leah Croucher as convicted sex offender Neil Maxwell;
• He was the only person with keys to the house where human remains were found next to Leah’s backpack;
• Maxwell was known to police due to his previous convictions for sexual assaults against women; 
• On November 29, 2018, he was reported to Bedfordshire Police for a sexual assault in Newport Pagnell; 
• Passed to Thames Valley Police who first tried to arrest him at a house in Milton Keynes the following day; 
• Maxwell’s name was put on the Police National Computer in December 2018 in relation to the sex assault;
• Thames Valley Police also issued a pub wanted appeal to find Maxwell on April 4, 2019; 
• 18 attempts were made to arrest Maxwell evaded police by using an alias and changing his phone and car;
• One attempt was made to arrest the sex offender in Scotland;
• Convicted criminal was found dead on April 20, 2019, having taken his own life at the age of 49;
• Police are now trying to establish whether Maxwell saw Croucher when she walked past the house;
• Officers would not say if Leah had been killed at the house or elsewhere or if she had been held hostage;
• Formal identification of the human remains has not yet taken place but will do so ‘as soon as possible;  
• Police would not say if any weapons had been found by officers searching the property; 

DCS Ian Hunter told today’s press conference in Milton Keynes: ‘I cannot even begin to imagine what it is like for Leah’s parents and family, for three years and eight months not knowing what has happened to their daughter and loved one.

‘All of the investigation team who are working on this case are dedicated to finding the truth for Leah’s family.’

Describing the hunt for Leah’s alleged murderer, he said: ‘A significant amount of enquiries were made nationally to locate Maxwell and these included 18 attempts to arrest him.

‘In April 2019, when we published our wanted appeal regarding Maxwell in connection with the sexual assault in Newport Pagnell, and during our entire investigation to find Leah, there has been no direct link between Maxwell and Leah until Monday this week when we were called about the property in Loxbeare Drive.

‘Maxwell has previous convictions for sexual offences against females and was wanted in connection with a sexual assault in Newport Pagnell in November 2018. 

‘The sexual assault was reported to Bedfordshire Police on November 29, 2018 and the case was transferred to Thames Valley Police the same day.’ 

DCS Hunter said Thames Valley Police first tried to arrest Maxwell in Milton Keynes the following day – November 30 – but were unable to find him.  

He continued: ‘We established that Maxwell was at an unknown location in Scotland at one stage, but further arrest attempts were continually made throughout the UK at various different addresses.

‘Maxwell knew he was wanted in connection with the sexual assault and was travelling across the UK and making concerted efforts to evade arrest, including using false names and changing his mobile phone and vehicles. He is likely to have known that he would be returning to prison if he was arrested and convicted.

‘Thames Valley police shared Maxwell’s name with other police forces on the Police National Computer in December 2018. We also published a public wanted appeal to find Maxwell on April 4, 2019, but Maxwell was found dead on April 20, 2019 having taken his own life. A significant amount of enquiries were made nationally to locate Maxwell and these included 18 attempts to arrest him.

‘In April 2019, when we published our wanted appeal regarding Maxwell in connection with the sexual assault in Newport Pagnell, and during our entire investigation to find Leah, there has been no direct link between Maxwell and Leah until Monday this week when we were called about the property in Loxbeare Drive.

‘If Maxwell were alive today, we would be seeking his arrest in connection with this investigation, so he could be interviewed under caution to provide his account.’  

The human remains were found in the loft of the property at Loxbeare Drive in Furzton, Milton Keynes, DCS Hunter, Thames Valley Police’s head of crime, said.

Asked how long the human remains had been in the house and where they were found, he told a press conference in Milton Keynes: ‘Of course, we have got an ongoing investigation so we will need to establish some of those facts.

‘I will reveal today that the rucksack containing Leah’s possessions and the human remains were found in the loft – that is what is making this so complex and challenging for us to be able to work through.’

Thames Valley Police were asked if it was possible that Maxwell had targeted Ms Croucher after seeing her as she was walking to work on a route that took her close to the property.

DCS Hunter said: ‘This inquiry was always extremely challenging. If we go back to Buzzacott Lane and the CCTV at 8.16am on February 15 2019 – there were no further lines of inquiry that helped us from there.

‘Of course, Leah’s route to work has always been subject to intense scrutiny throughout our investigation. (There were) 4,000 properties visited and CCTV that we were able to obtain has been viewed.

‘At this stage, it is of course an active line of our inquiry – did Leah walk past that house and some sort of action took place? That is exactly what the investigation team are going to try and establish.’ 

Police were first alerted to the house on Loxbeare Drive in Furzton, Milton Keynes by a handyman who had been employed to carry out maintenance work on the house.

He said due to Covid the house had been mostly empty since Leah’s disappearance but said the owners could have stayed at the four-bed property after she had been killed and her body hidden in the attic.

Th police would not say if Leah had been killed at the house or elsewhere or if she had been held hostage.

A Home Office pathologist is carrying out a postmortem to try and determine a cause of death.

DCS Hunter said the Croucher family had been fully briefed on the latest developments and their ‘nominated’ suspect.

In a statement read out at a press conference, the family said: ‘We would like to take this opportunity to thank Thames Valley Police for all their efforts over the past three years and eight months.

‘We believe that they could not have done anything differently, they have always approached every conversation with dignity and compassion.

‘As a family, we ask that everyone respects our privacy as well as our immediate family, at what is one of the most difficult times of our lives.’  

The officer would not say if any weapons had been found in the house.

 ‘That’s not something I am going to discuss here, that is an operational matter for the investigation as we work through and understand exactly what that house contains,’ he said. ‘The search is going to take some time.’

Leah Croucher’s bereft parents last night visited the house where her body was found. 

Claire Croucher could be heard sobbing loudly behind a black screen as police carried the remains to a waiting undertakers’ car. 

Claire and her husband John had arrived unannounced to see their daughter’s body taken from the house – over three years since her disappearance. 

Leah’s sister Jade said in a note left at the shrine to her sister: ‘How can a life as beautiful as yours come to an end in such a tragic way’.

This morning, a neighbour said that her CCTV had recorded the moment two men – who appeared to be estate agents – appeared to find the body on Monday.

Olga Kopilova said that her security system saw the two men entering the house next door. 

Ms Kopilova said they appeared to contact a third man, who arrived at the property with ladders. Police arrived a short time later, she said.

Speaking to MailOnline, she said: ‘No one ever went to the house and it had been empty for three years. Our CCTV captured two men in suits walking into the house. A little bit later another man came in a white car. He parked right outside the house and he had a ladder. That is all the CCTV shows.’ 

Ms Kopilova said police had taken away the CCTV as part of their investigation. She added: ‘It is very upsetting to know what was in that house.’

After dark last night Leah’s family arrived to tearfully lay tributes to a beloved daughter and sister. An undertaker carried a bouquet of flowers as he then accompanied the parents to a makeshift memorial at the front of the house which is at the centre of the police investigation.

A note left with the flowers read: ‘To our darling Leah. Our darkest fears have come true, we only need to be apart a little longer now.

‘We have so missed you for so long already. The future looks so bleak now. We know we will never see hour smile or hear your laughter again. We will cherish your memories for ever. We love you, Mum and dad’.

Another note, by Leah’s elder sister Jade, read: ‘To my beautiful sister Leah, My heart has broken, my mind racing with thoughts and my body numb. How can a life as beautiful as yours come to an end in such a tragic way.

‘I have loved you from your very first breath and I will love you until my last. There has never been a moment when you were not in my thoughts and there never will be.

‘My only comfort is that you and Hayden are together in heaven. All my love forever your big sister Jade and nephew Reggie.’

Last night the remains of the body were taken away in a three-car convoy. Police had sealed off Loxbeare Drive to traffic while the family were at the scene.  

A spokesman for the Home Office has confirmed that a post-mortem will take place today, but warned that it ‘might take some time’, and identification of the remains is still a while away.

They have not been officially identified as of yet, but Leah’s backpack and other belongings were discovered at the property, prompting loved ones of Leah to begin leaving tributes at the site, which was on her regular walk to work.

She was last captured on CCTV on her way to her job on February 15, 2019, but never made it to work. 

Police were alerted to the significance of the property by a member of the public who provided information on Monday. 

Well-wishers have laid flowers, candles, teddy bears and tea-lights in the shape of the letter L at the edge of the police tape cordoning off the two-storey brick house and its neighbouring detached property. 

Flowers left at the scene by friends of Mr and Mrs Croucher on their behalf had a heart-wrenching handwritten note which promised to ‘never give up fighting’ for their daughter. 

It comes as metal fencing covered with black screens was erected in the driveway of the empty £490,000 house, just a 20-minute walk from Leah’s home and less than half a mile from where the teenager was last seen.

A group of mourners visited the house, which remains cordoned off, earlier yesterday. They laid a wreath of roses and carnations alongside a handwritten note in black that said: ‘Our beautiful darling Leah.

‘While our hopes and dreams to find you safe and well have been stolen from us, a new hope for answers and justice is now part of the fight ahead.

‘We promise you with all of our hearts that we will never ever give up fighting. Our love always and for ever.’ The note was not signed.

Another small bouquet was signed ‘Nan and Grandad.’ It read: ‘We will never stop seeking answers. With love and miss you always.’ 

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They were laid by a group of mourners of various ages, including two children, who were clearly upset and did not want to speak. 

Another message among floral tributes read: ‘Leah, sleep tight darling. You are at peace now.’

Another member of the public wrote: ‘Rest easy Leah, taken far too soon. Time for your parents to take you home baby girl. All our condolences.’

Ever since she disappeared in 2019, Leah’s distraught parents and sister Jade have done everything possible to keep her in the public eye and step up the campaign to find her.

Tragically, nine months after she went missing, Leah’s half-brother Haydon Croucher, 24, was discovered by his mother Tracey Furness hanged at his flat and later died in hospital – landing the family a further blow. An inquest heard he struggled to cope following her disappearance.

Leah’s mother previously said her disappearance had ‘destroyed’ their family, adding that if she had been abducted or killed they would hold the culprit responsible for Haydon’s death as well. ‘He obviously, as everybody knows, he couldn’t cope, he found it very difficult,’ she said.

In a statement released, Thames Valley Police said its specialist teams and forensic officers remained at the property and expected to do so for several weeks.

The statement said: ‘We are dealing with a difficult and challenging scene and are conducting our investigations thoroughly and with dignity, ensuring that all of our actions are carried out in a respectful manner.

‘A Home Office post-mortem examination is expected to take place on Friday, although this may take some time, as will the formal identification of the deceased person located inside the property.

Detective Chief Superintendent Ian Hunter, Thames Valley Police’s head of crime, said: ‘Leah’s family and friends remain uppermost in our thoughts at this extremely difficult time.

‘We are continuing to keep them updated on any developments, and we would again ask the media to respect their privacy.

‘I would also like to thank the local community for their support and patience while our investigation continues.

‘Naturally, there is a thirst for information, and I can reassure both the media and the community, that when we are able to, we will provide updates publicly.

‘Our major crime unit have launched a murder investigation as a result of our findings this week, and as such, I would again like to appeal to anybody who may have any information around the disappearance of Leah to please get in contact with us.

‘It may be that you have had information over the last three years and eight months that you did not consider relevant.

‘If you have, I would urge you to contact Thames Valley Police on 101 or online, no matter how insignificant you believe this information to be.

‘You can also call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

‘We are absolutely committed to finding out what has happened to Leah. As a community, who have been so supportive since Leah’s disappearance, I know you want to help as well, and I thank the many people who have got in touch during the course of our investigations.’

Metal screens were erected this afternoon to stop photographs being taken of the body being carried to a waiting van. Earlier, a yellow collapsible stretcher was taken into the property. Detectives had attempted to conceal it as they removed it from a van parked outside the house.

It comes after Thames Valley Police revealed that they did not search the home when Leah vanished, and instead of pursuing efforts to get inside had simply put a leaflet about her disappearance through the letterbox – meaning this Monday was the first time that any officer from the force had finally stepped over the threshold of the four-bedroom property.

A spokesman for the force said: ‘Monday was the first time we were alerted to this property by a member of the public in connection with this investigation. As such, we can confirm that the house has never been entered as part of the original investigation. 

‘However, as an address in Furzton, the address was visited as part our house-to-house enquiries as part of the investigation, during which we visited more than 4,000 addresses. There was no response at the property and as such leaflets would have been dropped through the letterbox.’

It is not yet clear if anyone was living in the rented property in February 2019, but it is understood to have been empty for years until the latest developments.

Police have said they had never ‘been alerted’ to the house previously as part of their investigation.

But a neighbour on the same road said when Leah disappeared his own house had been visited twice by the police, who had even searched his garden. 

According to sources, much of the forensic work has been focused on one of the ceilings of the home.

Wall boards were seen being carried from the property and a blue-coloured forensic tent was erected in the front garden.

Leah’s parents spoke in February, on the third anniversary she went missing: ‘It has been three long, desolate, years since our beautiful and wonderful daughter Leah, vanished without a trace on her way to work. We still have no answers as to why. No clues as to what happened. No idea as to where or how she is.

‘It is impossible to stay positive after all this time. It was difficult at the start of this but now, the task is so futile, our lives are so bleak. It is harder each day to tell ourselves that today will be the day that we get answers, today we find out what happened three years ago.’

Leah was described by loved ones as ‘very quiet’ and ‘not really an outgoing type of person’, preferring to read fantasy fiction or watch DVDs in her room than nights out at the pub. She had competed internationally in taekwondo but her father said she was ‘not a fighter’.

The property where the remains were found is just a 20-minute walk from Leah’s own address and neighbours said the teenager would often walk through the street.

Records show the house, built as part of the estate in 1992, has been owned by a Kuwaiti family for two decades and has been rented out to a number of tenants over the years. 

A Thames Valley Police spokesman said: ‘Following information received from a member of the public on Monday… specialist officers and forensic teams attended the location.

‘As a result of an ongoing detailed forensic search of the property, a number of items have been located.

‘During the search we have found items, including a rucksack and personal possessions belonging to Leah Croucher, who was reported missing on February 15, 2019.

‘As a result of our findings, Thames Valley Police have now launched a murder investigation. This is a complex and challenging scene, which we have been at since just after 6.30pm on Monday.

‘We will continue to be at the scene for a significant period of time.

‘A large-scale missing person investigation has been ongoing for the last three-and-a-half years, with extensive searches and house-to-house enquiries.’ 

Detective Chief Superintendent Ian Hunter said: ‘Leah’s family have been kept updated and continue to be supported by officers, and we are urging the public and media to think of her family and not to speculate further while this investigation is in the early stages.

‘We will provide further updates when we are able to do so.

‘There remains a scene-watch in place at the address while this investigation continues, and we are committed to ensuring that our enquiries at the scene are thorough.

‘During our search for Leah, we have committed hundreds of officers and staff to the search for Leah over the last three and a half years, reviewing 1,200 hours of CCTV and conducted more than 4,000 house-to-house inquiries and offered several rewards for information to lead us to Leah.

‘The call from the member of the public that we received on Monday was the first occasion that we were alerted to this address, and we thank them for contacting us immediately to report their concerns.

‘Our thoughts remain with Leah’s family and friends, and we will continue to offer them all the support that they need.’

Following the update on the investigation, Ben Everitt, Conservative MP for Milton Keynes North, said he hoped it could ‘provide some answers to Leah’s loved ones’.

‘My thoughts continue to be with Leah’s family and friends at this incredibly difficult time,’ he said.

A faded Thames Valley Police missing person sign with a £5,000 reward, probably from the time that Leah disappeared, was still tacked to a tree just yards from the suburban property where the human remains were found.

The sign was a short distance from the police cordon where forensic experts appeared to be at work building a structure in the back garden of the house.

The appeal sign, complete with three photographs of the teenager, featured the hashtag ‘come home Leah’.

It was still tacked to a tree with rusted nails and read: ‘As usual, Leah got up after her parents left for work.

‘She followed her normal routine including leaving home at her normal time and walking the route that she took to work in Knowlhill, approximately two miles away.’

It added: ‘Leah did not call in sick to work. She took no money or clothes. She told no one she was planning on running away from home or where she was going.’

It also describes her as white, 5ft 2ins tall, of slim build and with shoulder-length brown hair.

Leah was last seen in a black coat, black skinny jeans, all black high-top Converse trainers, a grey hoodie featuring the Stewartby Taekwondo logo and carrying a small black rucksack.

The property is just under half a mile from where she was last seen on CCTV in Buzzacott Lane, Furzon, just after 8.15am in February 2019.

She was walking in the direction of Loxbeare Drive and Chaffron Way while on her way to work in the morning before she ‘effectively vanished into thin air’.

Despite a wide-scale investigation in which police visited 4,000 properties, sent divers into Furzton Lake and reviewed 1,200 hours of CCTV, no trace of Leah was ever found and no one has been arrested in connection with the case.

Police previously called the case ‘bewildering and frustrating’, and said they retained an ‘open mind’ but ‘the potential that Leah is no longer alive has to increase’. 

Detective Chief Inspector Andy Howard said ‘we’ve had no confirmed sightings of Leah’ since the time of her disappearance. 

Leah, who was 19 at the time of her disappearance, was reported missing from Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes, by her family on February 15, 2019. They last saw her at 10pm the day before.

In February, Leah’s family issued an emotional statement to mark the third anniversary of her disappearance.

In a written statement, issued through Thames Valley Police, Leah’s family said each day ‘feels like an eternity of pain and despair’, but said they remained hopeful she would one day be found.

‘It is harder each day to tell ourselves that today will be the day that we get answers, today we find out what happened three years ago,’ Mr and Mrs Croucher said.  

‘It is unimaginable to convince ourselves that this is not a lie we tell ourselves so that we get out of bed each day. Each day is torture.

‘It is inconceivable not to worry every second of every single day. Sleep feels an elusive character each night, waking each morning we never feel rested and refreshed.

‘Each time the phone rings or there is a knock at the front door, our hearts still leap in our chests.

‘That familiar surge of hope springing up in our throats. That familiar wave of despair that crashes over our very souls each time.

‘It is not the police or Leah herself knocking at the door or calling on the phone.

‘Again, we ask for the public’s help. You have all been so wonderful so far, still helping us search every face in the streets to see if they are Leah, still sharing on social media, still reporting possible sightings to the police.’

The night before she went missing, Leah left her home in Milton Keynes between 6pm and 7.15pm. She told her mother she was seeing a friend.

The police found out she never saw the friend and they do not know where she went or who she was with – or whether she met anyone that night.

Her parents last saw her when she went to bed, with her mother Claire previously saying it was ‘the last time I got to say goodnight’.

Last year her parents said they feared someone may have taken Leah as they questioned why she would ‘just disappear’.

In April, DCI Howard said: ‘We remain absolutely committed to finding Leah and seeking answers for her family.’

The following month, an appeal for information about Leah’s whereabouts was featured on digital billboards across London.

Alongside the tragedy of Leah’s disappearance, Leah’s family also suffered the tragic death of her brother Haydon, who was found hanged in November 2019. 

The 24-year-old died after telling a therapist he was finding it difficult to cope with his sister’s disappearance. Haydon was brought to Milton Keynes hospital for assessment for admission by his therapist Chantelle Tillison. But there were no beds available and he was sent home. He was found hanging in his flat in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, nine months after Leah disappeared, by his mother Mrs Furness.

He was rushed to hospital where he died two days later on November 16, 2019, Milton Keynes coroner’s court heard in 2020.

After his inquest, his mother warned there was ‘still a lot to learn’ from her son’s suicide. 

In a statement issued through her solicitors Mrs Furness in 2020, she said: ‘The family considers the Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust still have a lot to learn from the avoidable death of Haydon and others before him.’

Meanwhile, Leah’s sister Jade issued an appeal in July 2019, four months after her disappearance, for Leah to come home. 

She said: ‘It would be lovely if she messaged me on her birthday. Every day I wake up with the hope that we will get a little bit of a breakthrough that Leah is safe and well. I’m constantly checking my phone, but so far there has been nothing.’

The detached home where human remains were found is owned by a Kuwaiti-based family who have rented it out for over two decades.

For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details.