DARREN Carley was last seen alive at home on Lyndhurst Crescent, Park North, in January 2002.

On the day of his disappearance Darren, then 24, had split from a girlfriend with whom he had lived in Birmingham.

He was unemployed at the time he went missing but had previously worked in shops and warehouses.

Police said Darren was last seen wearing white tracksuit bottoms with black stripes, an orange fleece and white trainers. He was 5ft 6ins tall, with brown eyes and short, mousey hair.

Human remains were found on farmland in Charnock Richard, near Chorley, in July 2002.

This sparked a major investigation but the identity of the man remained unknown for over 15 years.

But advances in DNA allowed police to identify the body as Darren.

At the time of her son’s disappearance, Barbara issued emotional pleas for information. Through the pages of the Swindon Advertiser she told her son: “I love you, please come home.”

She added: “I just keep breaking down and crying every time I think about it. He always said he wanted to go to Manchester, but whether he’s gone there I don’t know.”

A year after he disappeared, Barbara told reporters: “In my heart I think someone has done him a mischief. It has been absolutely dreadful over the last year.

"We’ve heard nothing and Darren would ring me regularly when he was happy or unhappy.”

In October 2018, two people were arrested on suspicion of murdering Darren. A 50-year-old man from Gloucester and Worcester woman, 36, were later released under investigation.

In March 2019, murder squad detectives began searching a house in Cinderford in connection with Darren's death.