Suzi Maltwood was having a busy day at work when she saw her brother Shaune’s name flash up on her phone.
Instead of picking it up, she let it ring out, vowing in her mind to call him later. But, by then, it would be too late.
‘The last time I heard from Shaune, he’d been very reliant on me,’ Suzi tells Metro.co.uk.
‘He hadn’t been well with his mental health, so we’d been speaking almost daily. But that day I was making up hours at work after taking time off to support him. Now I live with an unbearable amount of guilt.
‘Every day I wonder if I’d just answered the call, “would Shaune have never gone missing?”.’
Despite his mental health struggles Shaune, who went missing on June 21, 2017, had also been positive about his future. Then 45, he was busy as manager of several London-based businesses – including a cleaning company.
He lived in Eltham, but the father-of-five loved to visit the Isle of Sheppey – an island off the northern coast of Kent – with his two dogs or for holidays with his family.
The last sighting of Shaune before his disappearance that summer’s day was at a caravan park in the village of Eastchurch on the island, where he’d travelled to sell a van.
‘He was always a happy-go-lucky type of person and absolutely loved his children and granddaughter. He had a passion for flashy cars,’ remembers Suzi, 42.
‘Many years ago, I would have been sick of hearing about his cars, but now I would do anything to talk to him about the latest BMW Sport.’
There have been no clues over the last six years as to what happened to Shaune. There are no bank records, GP appointments, or work records.
He hasn’t used his driving licence or passport, and Interpole confirmed to his family that he hasn’t appeared to have left the country. Police investigations into his disappearance have yielded on results.
For the first few days of Shaune’s disappearance, it didn’t quite feel real for his family.
Suzi added: ‘I remember thinking “what if he isn’t going to come home?” but I would just brush it off. It wasn’t until a week or so into Shaune’s disappearance that the panic really set in.
‘I find it hard to describe exactly how it felt because it was like having your life turned upside down, but amongst all of the panic and worry, I’ve always had hope that one day he will come home.’
Following his disappearance, Shaune’s family searched homeless shelters, had his face printed in the Big Issue and frequently shared missing poster on social media. Suzi still posts his picture on Isle of Sheppey Facebook pages in case she can jog someone’s memory.
She’s been left desperate for closure on what happened to her brother and how he potentially spent his final day.
Growing up, the pair were like ‘mates’, rather than bickering siblings, adds Suzi. It was a bond that continued well into adulthood, as the pair remained close.
Suzi added: ‘Shaune and I were inseparable as children. I remember us doing everything together, and whenever Shaune left the house without me, I’d always be waiting with excitement to see him when he came home. We never lost this closeness over the years and I’d do anything to get it back again.’
After so many empty years, she understands the search may seem fruitless in the eyes of others.
‘What keeps me going is knowing that Shaune would do the same for me,’ she explains. ‘He would never give up and neither will I.
‘I will fight every day to keep my brother in the public eye so that there are as many people as possible helping me to search. The pain never goes away, it just gets harder every day not knowing if he’s even alive.
‘Over the years Shaune has been missing, it’s been a huge struggle for us as a family. I’ve been living without my brother, my mum’s been living without her son, his children have been growing up without a father.
‘We need closure so badly that we are considering having him declared deceased when it reaches seven years of him being missing,’ adds Suzi.
‘Neither his children nor granddaughter understand what went wrong. Our mum is really struggling with Shaune being gone and believes that she’ll never know what happened to him in her lifetime. Every day is a battle to try and find Shaune.’
However, it’s the not knowing that’s the hardest part, says Suzi. ‘It’s a complicated type of grief and something we are still navigating every day,’ she admits. ‘The scariest part is that there’s a chance we’ll never know what happened to him and there’s no closure until we do.’
Six years after Shaune went missing, fresh hope is being offered to Suzi and her family, as his story is being included in a new campaign by Missing People.
The charity has collaborated with Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) on a project called Safe Way Home.
With one person going missing every 90 seconds in the UK, it’s the equivalent of40 people in a single rush hour or daily commute. To represent this figure, 40 sets of disappearing footprints are on display on Platform One at Blackfriars station, set to be seen by more than 100,000 people every day.
What’s more, customers logging into Wi-Fi onboard Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express trains will see a different missing person each week.
For Suzi, this could help find the final piece of the jigsaw puzzle in finding out what happened to her brother that fateful day in 2017.
‘The longer Shaune is missing, the harder it is to keep up the momentum of public support,’ she says. ‘I am so grateful for the partnership between Missing People and Govia Thameslink Railway because it’s given me a new platform to get a really important, and often forgotten, message out about Shaune.
‘Any information and any help that anyone can provide to help find Shaune is so very appreciated.
‘The added exposure across GTR’s Wi-Fi login pages might jog someone’s memory – it could only take one person to help bring him home to us.’
Meanwhile, Suzi urges anyone who is going through her similar ordeal, never to give up hope.
‘Do what you can to keep them in the public eye, so that you’re not the only one searching,’ she advises.
‘Missing People has been amazing at keeping Shaune in the media every couple of months and the partnership with Govia Thameslink Railway is another brilliant way to get my brother’s story out there.’
There will also be digital posters of missing people, such as Shaune, at selected sites across the entire GTR network.
Anyone who is affected by someone going missing or is thinking of going missing can call or text Missing People on 116 000. Shaune’s appeal will be shown from 11 – 17 December across Southern, Thameslink, Great Northern and Gatwick Express Wi-fi login pages.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing Kirsten.Robertson@metro.co.uk
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