For thousands of families across the United Kingdom, the festive season is shadowed by an empty chair and the haunting absence of a loved one. This is the relentless reality for Alexandra Hicks, whose brother vanished without a trace 39 years ago, turning every Christmas since into a painful reminder.
A Brother's Disappearance: The Night That Changed Everything
On the evening of Sunday, 2 March 1986, 16-year-old Kevin Hicks left his family home in Croydon, south London. His mission was simple: to buy eggs needed for a school cooking exam the following day. He never returned.
His sister, Alexandra, then just 15, recalls the chilling discovery the next morning. "I walked past his bedroom and my mum was sitting on his windowsill looking towards the shop," she remembers. "I could see his bed hadn't been slept in." Their father reported Kevin missing to the police but was informed that, as Kevin was 16, they would have to wait 24 hours before acting—a policy that has since changed.
A Lifelong Search and Unanswered Questions
In the decades that followed, Kevin's family embarked on a desperate search for answers. His mother spent eight years looking for her son before passing away in 1994 without knowing his fate. Their father died in 2003, also left in the dark. Alexandra, now 54, has shouldered the quest for the last two decades.
"It's not knowing what has happened to him that hurts the most," Alexandra confesses. She clings to the hope he may still be alive, rejecting the police conclusion that he was likely murdered. "I won't accept he's dead because we don't have a body. The police say he was killed that night but where's the body, where's the proof?"
The Metropolitan Police issued a fresh appeal with a £20,000 reward in 2016, the 30th anniversary of his disappearance, but it yielded no new leads.
The Agony of Absence During the Festive Season
For Alexandra, Christmas is particularly harrowing. "Every Christmas I wish for him to come home - it's been my Christmas wish every year for the last 39 years," she says. She describes feeling like an orphan, having lost both parents and her brother.
Paul Joseph, Head of Helplines and Reconnections at the charity Missing People, explains this profound grief. "When someone you love is missing, life feels paused. At Christmas, that absence feels even heavier. A place at the table remains empty, gifts go unwrapped, and celebration is mixed with worry and longing."
The Mirror is working with Missing People on the Missed campaign, launched in April 2025, to raise awareness and share the stories of the estimated 72,000 UK families affected by a child going missing each year.
Alexandra holds onto cherished memories of a happy childhood with her brother, who was just a year older. She smiles recalling their Christmas morning bickering. Yet, his absence has marked every milestone. "Because our birthdays are only one year and a day apart it never felt right celebrating my 18th and 21st birthdays without him."
Her message to Kevin, wherever he may be, is simple: "I'd tell him if he doesn't want to say why he went away, that's fine. I won't even ask why he disappeared. If he's watching I'd like to say 'Kevin, please let me know you're ok'."
If he is no longer alive, she pleads for closure: "I just need to know what happened - so I can finally put him to rest with mum and dad."
The Missing People helpline offers support 24/7 by calling or texting 116 000.
