The Tragic Tale of Jamie Lavis

Jamie Lavis was the second of five children of married couple Karen and John Lavis. The large family lived in Manchester, England, where there was often not enough money to go around.

Despite his surroundings of abandoned buildings, 8-year-old Jamie Lavis was described as a bright and happy young boy.

Like other boys his age, Jamie enjoyed running around and playing on his bike and trains. Every day after school, Jamie would kick off his school shoes and race upstairs to get changed.

He spent most of his afternoons with his friends in the street, playing football or whatever made-up game they had created that day.

May 5th, 1997, was the UK’s May Day celebration and bank holiday. All schools were closed, and many people got the day off work, creating a lovely long weekend.

For Jamie and his friends, May Day was ideal. It meant they didn’t have to wake up early or go to school, and they could do whatever they wanted all day long. That morning, Jamie woke up, got dressed and headed outside.

Jamie wasn’t alone; his brother John Lavis also joined him on the cold streets of Openshaw. The children played in the street for a few hours, moving out of the road every so often to let cars pass.

Sometime that day, John headed whilst Jamie stayed outside. Jamie’s exact whereabouts after this time are unknown.

At around 5:00 PM, the street lights began to glimmer with a familiar warm glow, and the Lavis family began to set the table, but one seat remained empty. Jamie was nowhere to be found.

At first, Karen and John Sr assumed that Jamie was so busy playing with friends that he had lost track of time, but their worries began to swell as the hours ticked by.

A Call To 999

By nightfall on May 5th, John and Karen had become so worried about their son that they called 999 and requested the Greater Manchester Police.

They explained that their son, 8-year-old Jamie, had failed to return home. Jamie was an independent and sensible young man who had never run away before.

News of Jamie’s disappearance quickly spread through the estate, and neighbours turned out in their droves to help the Lavis family find Jamie.

Groups of residents armed with torches marched through the streets, searching behind cars, bushes and the numerous abandoned buildings that littered the streets. Each person shouted Jamie’s name, but there was no reply.

By May 6th 1997, Jamie’s disappearance had made it to local newspapers, such as the Manchester Evening News [MEN] and local TV stations.

This mass reporting of Jamie’s disappearance would spur the first and perhaps most vital clue. Several witnesses recalled seeing Jamie at the bus stop waiting to board the 219.

The 219 route runs from Manchester Piccadilly through Openshaw, Fairfield and Guide Bridge before arriving in Ashton Under Lyne with the same route upon return.

Bizarrely enough, 28-year-old Darren Vickers was one of the witnesses who came forward, claiming to have seen Jamie that morning. Darren told the Greater Manchester Police that he had been the one driving the 219 bus that morning.

Darren lived just 3 streets away from the Lavis family and was familiar with them before Jamie’s disappearance.

After speaking to the police about seeing Jamie aboard his bus, Darren made a bizarre comment. “He wouldn’t happen to be wearing a dark blue Reebok tracksuit, would he?”.

Evil Lurks Among Us

Many brushed Darren’s comment off as innocent; if he had been the one to see Jamie boarding his bus that morning, then, of course, he would have known what the boy was wearing.

But the Greater Manchester Police saw straight through Darren. From the outset, he was extremely keen to be as involved as possible in Jamie’s case, inserting himself into the case as much as possible.

The community of Openshaw gathered to console Jamie’s grieving parents, but Darren Vickers took things a bridge too far.

Whilst other neighbours cooked the family meals and took the other children to school so Karen and John Sr could search, Darren wanted to be even closer.

Shortly after giving the GMP [Greater Manchester Police] a vital tip, Darren Vickers moved in with Karen and John Sr. In an eerie photograph, Darren can be seen sitting with the pair, all whilst knowing what he had done.

**Photo of Jamie Lavis’ parents and Darren Vickers via The Sun.**

John Sr had quit his job so he could devote all of his time to searching for his son, and Darren was never far behind when the family went out searching.

Darren had utterly neglected his own children and wife in favour of the Lavis family. Whenever the opportunity arose, Darren would conduct a press conference on behalf of Jamie’s family, happily pose for photographs, and conduct TV interviews.

The Greater Manchester Police were drawing in on Darren, but they needed substantial evidence to close the case.

Concrete CCTV Evidence

In his statement to the Greater Manchester Police, Darren Vickers said that Jamie had sat quietly during both journeys, watching the world around him go by. That simply wasn’t true.

Passengers came forward, stating that Jamie was ‘running up and down the aisle’, handing out tickets to people. At one point, Jamie even sat with Darren as he drove, fiddling with the gear stick.

The most damning piece of evidence would come from Ashton bus station’s CCTV system. Just before 11:30 AM on May 5th, Jamie stands alone before a familiar face, Darren Vickers, enters the frame.

In the footage, Darren plays with Jamie’s hair before the two get back onto the 219, ready to make the journey back to Manchester Piccadilly station.

After hours of riding around with Darren, Jamie waited for Darren’s shift to end, believing that he would take him home where he would be safe and sound. Unfortunately, that is not what happened.

They believed that Darren had seized the opportunity to snatch Jamie. Darren was promptly arrested but quickly released without charge as the police did not have enough evidence to bring about a conviction.

Ironically, Darren’s most prominent supporters during this time were John Sr and Karen Lavis, who refused to believe that Darren could be involved in their son’s disappearance.

The Search Of Reddish Vale

Whilst the police had failed their first attempt at capturing Darren, they would succeed the second time around.

In late 1997, the Greater Manchester Police received reports that Darren had told them that he had buried Jamie Lavis in Reddish Vale, just outside Stockport in Greater Manchester. Acting on the back of this tip, the official search of Reddish Vale began in October 1997.

Days into their search, the Greater Manchester Police had to deliver the crushing news to Karen and John Sr. Wrapped in tarpaulin and cloth laid the remains of Jamie Lavis, still wearing the blue Reebok tracksuit he disappeared in.

Darren Vickers was arrested and charged with Jamie Lavis’ murder. The police were unable to recover any DNA evidence linking Darren to the crime.

Darren initially made a bizarre confession, stating it was an accident. However, he quickly recanted and went on the offensive.

The prosecution needed time to build their case, and it would take until 1999 for the case to go to trial. During the trial, the prosecution relied on CCTV evidence and Darren’s past criminal history.

Darren began exhibiting bizarre behaviour during the trial, attempting to deflect the crime onto John Lavis Sr. Darren claimed that he was the real killer.

However, the jury was not buying it. Weeks after the trial had begun, Darren Vickers was found guilty of the murder of 8-year-old Jamie Lavis. For his crimes, he was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 25 years.

Life With 25 Years

In 2023, with a year left on his minimum sentence, Darren Vickers was referred to the parole board.

Thankfully, the parole board decided that Darren was not suitable for release or transfer to an open prison. 56-year-old Darren Vickers will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars, under 24/7 supervision, where he belongs.