Father blasts police over 'murder'

In a letter of complaint to Humberside Police Chief Constable Tim Hollis, Roger Bohling claimed the four-month search for his son Russell had been marred by "incompetence", and that it was "very probable" his killer was still at large.

The letter said: "The police investigation into his disappearance has been fundamentally undermined by errors of professional judgement on the part of those extremely well paid officers leading the investigation.

"It has come to light that vital clues were overlooked and that evidence critical to the case has been lost.

"Technical data provided by police specialists has been proven to be completely inaccurate."

It continued: "The public have the absolute right to expect and demand that Humberside Police will provide a quality of service and expertise that fully meets the duty placed upon the police to protect those in the communities that they serve."

The letter, which was hand-delivered to force headquarters at Priory Road in Hull, has also been published in full on a Facebook page dedicated to the search for missing 18-year-old Russell, which has 4,000 followers.

It concludes: "We will end simply by stating that it is very probable that through... professional incompetence... a killer is still at large in the East Riding.

"Perhaps you will give that some thought whilst each day we try to cope with the loss of Russell."

Mr Bohling said he felt he had little option but to make his concerns public after raising them privately with police during the course of the inquiry.

The force is treating the case as a missing persons inquiry, but Russell's family believe that he may have been abducted and murdered, possibly by someone who had learned of a 300,000 windfall that he was about to receive.

North Yorkshire Police have already conducted an independent review into the investigation.

Russell, who is considered vulnerable because of a speech and language disorder, was last seen at 8am on March 2 when he left home in West Ella, near Hull, for Bishop Burton College, near Beverley.

He was expecting his father to give him a lift to a bus stop, but Mr Bohling was delayed by his Parkinson's disease and told Russell to take the family's blue Renault Clio.

It is not known if he arrived at the college and the car was found abandoned 45 miles away at Bempton Cliffs nature reserve, near Bridlington, displaying a 3.50 parking ticket bought at 11.30am that day, which had Russell's fingerprint on it.

Mr Bohling said the vehicle would not have had enough fuel to cover the miles that it had done since the previous evening, and that Russell did not have enough money with him to refill it.

The car was found with 45.5 litres of diesel in a near 50-litre tank, which Mr Bohling believes shows someone else was involved.

On Tuesday, Mr Bohling held a five-hour meeting with the head of the force's crime management branch, Det Chief Supt Richard Kerman, and senior investigating officer Det Insp Colin Waddington.

Last night a force spokeswoman said: "North Yorkshire Police concluded that there is no current evidence of third-party involvement and that Russell may have fallen to his death or chosen to take his own life remain options.

"Those remain as options the police will continue to investigate. However, any improvement to this investigation would not have altered these facts.

"We understand Mr Bohling is having difficulty coming to terms with the disappearance of his son and we sympathise with him.

"We have now given Mr Bohling all the facts and we do understand why a lot of this would be uncomfortable for him and why we all need to keep this missing persons inquiry in the public eye."