The People’s Hunt For Kevin Parle
Where is Kevin Parle — Manhunt
A few months ago I was shopping with Jarad Adams when we came across a book called “Manhunt”, written by former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley and we decided to follow the case.
39-year-old Kevin Parle from Mossley Hill, Liverpool has been a wanted man for at least sixteen years having allegedly taken the lives of a twenty-two-year-old mother of three Lucy Hargreaves and a sixteen-year-old boy Liam Kelly, as well as burning down a house putting a young family in grave danger. It certainly seems that he is pretty good at running away and hiding and staying just a couple of steps ahead of the authorities.
There have been reports of him being as far away as Spain, Thailand and Dubai and much closer to home in Manchester, England. It seems that Merseyside Police have certainly not done too well in their investigations or in pursuing the fugitive otherwise he would not be blatantly waving to them from a difference.
The former Scotland Yard detective, Peter Bleksley is convinced that the alleged killer is still alive and most certainly still at large. He has literally made the task of catching Parle his life’s work. If I can support him a little then I will certainly do my best.
Let’s have a look at the story that has brought about the hunt for this long term fugitive:
On June 18th 2004 a 16-year-old boy named Liam Kelly went out to look for a person who he had loaned the sum of £200. The person concerned had failed to return the money, so the teenager went to try to collect what was rightfully his.
Having located the person and established that the money was not available, Liam Kelly lost his temper and threw a bicycle. Unfortunately, the bike went into the front window of a house and smashed it. There is no real information to say where Liam went or what he did for the rest of that evening.
In the early hours of Jube 19th 2004, the boy received a telephone call telling him to go to Grafton Street in an area of Liverpool called Dingle. Liam asked one of his friends for a lift and having got there he stepped out of the car. He was quickly approached by two men who came from opposite directions, one of them produced a shotgun and shot Liam twice. The men then made good their escape and vanished into the night, leaving the teenager to die.
Liam had suffered serious wounds to his right arm and his chest, but somehow he managed to muster some final strength and crawled to a door of a house to try to get help. The householders sent for the emergency services but the boy’s injuries were too severe and the 16-year-old lost his life.
Merseyside police quickly began a massive enquiry into the killing and indeed rapidly made arrests, including Kevin Parle, Anthony Campbell and Peter Sinclair. The three men were then interviewed and a woman provided a strong alibi for Parle so he was released on police bail.
Of course, you know what is coming next, Parle failed to return to answer bail, so Campbell and Sinclair faced trial for the murder of Liam. Campbell admitted his part in the murder of the teenager and was sentenced to life in prison, Sinclair was convicted of assisting an offender after it was discovered he had helped Parle to destroy two mobile phones and clothing.
The woman that provided the alibi for Kevin Parle was investigated and eventually charged with providing a false alibi for Parle and ultimately convicted of perverting the course of justice.
During all of that time, Kevin Parle remained on the run and despite searches by Merseyside police he was not found, then on August 3rd 2005 a mother-of-three, Lucy Hargreaves was shot three times whilst she slept on the sofa of her home.
Lucy was 22-years-old and mum to three small children, two of which were fortunately not at home on the night in question. Lucy’s partner Gary Campbell and the couple’s two-year-old daughter were upstairs in bed when three men burst into the house, shot Lucy, covered the room in petrol, then setting the place alight.
Gary and his daughter managed to make their escape by jumping from the bedroom window but of course, Lucy was dead inside the burning building.
Yet another major police investigation ensued and as a result, Anthony ‘Fat tony’ Downes and Kirk Bradley were taken before the courts to face trial. It was said that Lucy’s murder was as a result of a feud between Downes and Gary Campbell.
The jury was told that back in 1993 when Gary was a teenager, he had been riding in a stolen vehicle that was being driven at very high speeds. The driver was a male called Andrew Ellis and during the drive, he had put the car into reverse gear and mown down some pedestrians.
One of the pedestrians involved was Kevin Downes, who was four-years-old and was killed instantly. He had been Anthony Downes younger brother and it seems that Anthony somehow blamed Gary for his brother’s death.
The trial judge concluded that the jury in the case should return a not guilty verdict, due to lack of evidence against the defendants and the men were acquitted. It is claimed that the third man that burst into Lucy Hargreaves home that night was none other than Kevin Parle. Hence he is now wanted in connection with two murders.
There have been many alleged sightings of the fugitive over the years, including Parle being seen in The Costa Blanca beginning in 2006. He has also been sighted in Liverpool, Spain, Portugal, Dubai and Thailand.
In more recent times a former police officer who now works as a farmer in Northern England told Peter Bleksley that he had positively identified Parle whilst he was driving a Landrover Discovery when it crashed into fields, drove round in a crazy fashion then smashed through the fence and drove off at high speed. The former officer had been around 15-yards from the vehicle at one point and saw the driver put up two fingers and speed off.
There have been sightings in Liverpool in 2017/18, one by a man who went to school with Parle and therefore knew him well to recognise him. The witness told Peter Bleksley that he had seen Kevin Parle in a red Audi car at some traffic lights in Liverpool. It seems perfectly possible that the fugitive may well be hiding out right under the police’s nose in his home city, but of course, he could also have just been visiting.
It appears that Parle has many friends from the criminal fraternity in Merseyside and they will happily assist him in avoiding discovery. Kevin Parle has also been sighted in Thailand and Portugal, in the latter he was reported to be with a dark-haired woman in her thirties.
As far as I am aware the most recent sighting was in September 2019 in Albir, Spain where he was witnessed in a fight after bar staff tried to remove some Liverpudlians when they had been discovered snorting cocaine in the toilets.
Despite the extremely hard work of Merseyside police they have so far been unsuccessful in accurately locating Kevin Parle. Now ex-Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley has begun his own private investigation and in his words, he is “shrinking the world for Kevin Parle until he has nowhere left to hide”.
You can find Peter at his website:You can find Peter at his website: https://peterbleksley.com/ and follow him on Social media, all the links and latest information is on the website for you and I encourage you to help in the hunt if you can.
Remember to use words from Peter: Kevin Parle is ‘extremely dangerous’. He remains wanted in connection with two separate murders. He has been on the run for nearly 16 years and Peter wants to bring that time to an end. and follow him on Social media, all the links and latest information is on the website for you and I encourage you to help in the hunt if you can.
Remember to use words from Peter: Kevin Parle is ‘extremely dangerous’. He remains wanted in connection with two separate murders. He has been on the run for nearly 16 years and Peter wants to bring that time to an end.
I strongly recommend the book written by Peter (above) it really goes into detail on the whole case and is worth every penny.
I will leave it there and wish Peter Bleksley all the very best of luck in his hunt for Kevin Parle and if I can be of any assistance Peter then do get in touch.
I’ll be back next time with another case and further updates on the case review of missing Suzy Lamplugh, so I shall see you soon.
If you’d like to discuss this or indeed any other case then do please get in touch with me, you know by now I love to hear from you
Email me at
lolly.adams@lollytruecrimeworld.co.uk