The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Russell Lowbridge’s grandfather, Alfred Swinscoe, was so harrowing that it became a taboo subject within the family. Alfred, a 54-year-old Derbyshire miner and pigeon fancier known as ‘Sparrow’ and ‘the master pigeon man of Pinxton’, vanished without a trace on a chilly January night in 1967 after leaving his local pub, the Miners’ Arms in the village of Pinxton.
It was widely believed that Alfred, who had just separated from his wife, had abandoned her and their six children. However, Gary, Alfred’s son and the last person to see him, held on to the hope that his father would return- a hope he maintained until he died in 2012.
Russell, who was just four years old when his grandfather disappeared, thought he would never find out the truth. But when he happens upon a police post on social media about a body found in a farmer’s field, he recognises one of his grandfather’s signature socks from over half a century ago.
This shocking discovery marked the start of a year that would finally bring closure to the case but also left Russell with unanswered questions. Russell is making one final appeal for information about his grandfather’s cold case, which has been adjourned, the Mirror reports.
The fate of Alfred Swinscoe would have remained unknown had a farmer in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Notts, not discovered human bones while digging a trench. The farmer alerted police after digging up human bones and men’s clothing buried two metres deep. The skeleton showed signs of violent trauma, suggesting murder and pre-decimal coins were found in the bag.
Russell, who lives nearby and has driven past the field countless times, recalls: “I didn’t pay much attention to it at first, but then the police posted a photo of a pair of strange socks and I had this incredible flashback, especially with the black sock.”
“I suddenly remembered as a child putting on my grandfather’s socks and pulling them up so that the heel was up to my knee. I called the police and they came to take a DNA swab. That’s when we found out it was Alfred. I was shocked and amazed”, he said.
“It turns out he was wearing strange socks that night. My first thought was ‘Poor guy, he’d left his wife and was down on his luck, he was living in a shelter and couldn’t do his laundry’. Or maybe it was just one of his feet and he was wearing two socks on each. It was the middle of winter”, he added.
Speaking of Gary’s tireless search for Alfred, Russell explained, “He told me that he kept returning to Pinxton and searching in outhouses, abandoned buildings, ditches and old wells, anywhere Alfred might have fallen or been laid down, and he never gave up. Even as he grew older, he kept searching as long as he had the strength.”
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