'Someone knows what happened to our son' - parents speak of anguish nearly 10 years after teenager vanished without a trace

Russell Bohling, a bricklaying student at Bishop Burton College, left the home he shared with his parents in West Ella, near Hull at around 8am on March 2, 2010, and has never been seen since.

The 18-year-old's Renault Clio was found parked at RSPB Bempton Cliffs the following day with a ticket, purchased at 11.31am the day he went missing.

An inquest into Russell's death was held at Hull Coroner's Court on Friday, where for the first time, both his family, and Humberside Police said they believed that the 18-year-old had died.

His father Roger Bohling said: "We think he is dead, but we strongly believe that there is a third party involved and we don't know whether a crime was committed or not but for some reason that person for nine years has not come forward to put us out of misery.

"The fact they have not come forward leads us to believe they are either concerned about losing their employment or freedom.

The inquest heard on the morning of his death, Russell had researched about the Royal Air Force bunker at Bempton.

His family say they believe he went to the bunker with a secret friend, who they believe he had spent time with a few days before his disappearance and that he met his fate there, despite thorough searches taking place and nothing being found.

"We fear he could have died after having a major asthma attack triggered by the asbestos in the bunker."

The family also spoke of a third party involvement due to the fact Russell's car only had 3.8 litres of fuel in it and say it would have been impossible to reach the Bempton area without fuelling.

Russell's debut card had not been used and his family believe he had very little money on him, which they say is indicative of someone else being with their son when he drove to Bempton.

Detective Constable Graeme Jones, of Humberside Police, said it was impossible to say how much fuel had been used to get to Bempton.

He also said police found no evidence of any third party involvement in Russell's disappearance.

The police officer said officers had carried out extensive enquiries to find any trace of Russell on CCTV along the route to Bempton, but this had drawn blank.

Officers also carried out door-to-door enquiries on addresses found in the Sat Nav used by Russell, but no one claimed to have known the teenager.

Giving his conclusion, Assistant Coroner David Rosenberg ruled out suicide as a cause of death, stating that a Dictaphone with a message from the teenager stating he had taken his own life, was from when Russell was younger and struggling at secondary school.

Mr Rosenberg said Russell was the "happiest" he had been when he disappeared and had made and recorded a narrative conclusion.

He said: "Russell Bohling has been missing since he left home at 8am on March 2, 2010 in his Renault Clio. The car was found the next day at RSPB car park at Bempton, near Bridlington..

"There is no evidence he is still alive and on the balance of probability he died on March 2, in the sea adjacent to Bempton Cliffs.

"The circumstances how his death arose are unknown.

"This must have been a dreadful number of years for his family and that of what happened to Russell will haunt them for the rest of their lives."

Speaking to the Yorkshire Post , Roger and Christine Bohling said it was important an inquest had been held into Russell's death, but said a lot of questions still remained unanswered

Mr Bohling said: "We have now agreed that Russell is dead, but we want to know how his death came about and we want the person who knows this to come forward and tell us.

"We want to know he didn't suffer.

"We do not believe he fell from the cliff into the water, he had no interest in the cliffs whatsoever, we believe he went into the bunker and that he died and is buried somewhere."