Greg Martin watched with pride as his son Michael, a skilful and strong midfielder for Moorside Rangers, won man-of-the-match in a Salford cup final. The player ended up on the losing side but his performance was outstanding. The game was played at The Cliff, Manchester United's training ground, and both father and son were Reds.
As he recalls that cherished memory the emotion is reflected in Greg's face. He shows a picture in his phone of Michael in his Rangers kit. In the image Michael is fit and smiling. But at the age of 13 he stopped playing football. His life had already taken a dark turn which ultimately led to his murder at the age of 25.
A life changed by drugs and mental illness
From an early age Michael was sucked into Salford's criminal underworld. But he was also living with mental illness which made him vulnerable and easy to exploit. His family's loss and grief has been amplified over the last decade by the "torture" of his body never being found. In a unique development police are hoping a breakthrough can be achieved.
Michael was brought up in Clifton, Salford, and had two older sisters and two younger stepbrothers. By the time of his disappearance he was living in a flat in Little Hulton.
Greg said: "Michael was a typical boy, really. Always outside playing, playing football, or sometimes getting into a bit of mischief. He was, you know, typical.
"I believe that he had issues since he was a kid. Probably ADHD, but he was never diagnosed. His mother took him to the hospital once, and Michael ran out of the hospital. So he always had problems at school behaving, and he could never sit still. So we believe he had ADHD, but he was never diagnosed with it."
"He was a good sportsman. He was a cross-country champion, a good footballer, really. He could play anywhere really—midfield, centre-half, anywhere down the middle. Skilful on both feet. He could score off his left or his right from 20 yards."
"I used to take him to football. I still have good memories of him playing. And then drugs, and the people he was knocking around with—that's what changed his life."
The day he vanished
Michael was last seen on August 7th 2016. At around 7.30am that day Michael was driving his black Ford Focus on the A666 Bolton Road in Kearsley, Bolton. He had an argument with a friend, a front seat passenger, who grabbed the steering wheel. During the ruck the ignition key was damaged.
The row was caught on CCTV. The pair can be seen getting out of the car which has come to an abrupt stop. They bump started the car and the friend drove it onto the forecourt of the nearby Esso petrol station. Michael followed on foot.
CCTV of the pair at the station are some of the last images of Michael alive. He is acting erratically - opening the doors of the car and the boot as if looking for something. His friend goes into the shop to buy a tool to fix the ignition. Michael enters the store too but is then seen in the doorway and appears to want to leave. The pair return to the forecourt where Michael suddenly runs off, wearing just one shoe.
Michael crosses the main road to Jackson Street before turning right down an alleyway known as Back Bolton Road. He was again caught on CCTV running down the ginnel which is a dead end. That was the last image of him.
One police theory is that he may have jumped over a fence at the end of the backstreet and made his way through the grounds of flats to the main road which leads to Stoneclough. Police believe he may have been intending to return to his parents' then home in Clifton. But they have speculated that he was intercepted; taken in a car to an unknown location and killed. His body was then moved and disposed of.
The investigation and the reward
For Greg his living nightmare began a day or two after Michael vanished from the petrol station on the Saturday morning. "I'm not sure if it was on the Sunday night or the Monday morning, but I received a very strange phone call from some people that Michael knew, which I found sort of alarming at the time. So after so many hours, I reported it because I had a gut feeling that something was wrong."
"The last time I heard from him was on the Saturday before—before he disappeared, the day before he disappeared. He seemed okay, but I knew he wasn't okay because of what had been going on for quite a while with—with his excessive drug use. He wasn't the same person."
On August 13th 2016 GMP issued a press release saying Michael was missing and that he required medication for mental health issues. Three days later the force said they were conducting a "no body murder investigation".
In March 2017 police spent three weeks searching woodland off Grosvenor Street, Little Hulton, and land near where Michael was last seen including the embankment near Kearsley Railway Station. August 2019 saw them switch the search to Clifton Country Park where the area of a wheel chamber, for the former Wet Earth Colliery and Gal Pit was checked after intelligence that Michael had been left in a well. But there was no trace of Michael at either site.
Greg said: "It's just gut-wrenching every day, really. The not knowing. I mean, obviously, we know he's dead, but it's just not knowing where he was, where he is, what happened to him. To have him returned would not give us peace but it would give us some closure."
The night before he vanished Michael and the friend who was with him at the petrol station had driven to various places around Manchester, including Blackley, Middleton, and the city centre. At some point they collected £3000 from an address in Blackley.
Asked if he thought the £3,000 was a link to his disappearance he said: "I would say that's a distinct possibility. That the money was an incentive. The money might have been an incentive for someone to attack Michael."
"We know that some of Michael's friends will know what's happened to him. I'd just appeal to them to do the right thing, through a family member or indirectly let the police know what happened to Michael, so we can get some peace of mind and closure."
In an unusual move GMP are offering a £50,000 reward for information which leads just to the recovery of Michael's body. Greg said: "I'm really hopeful. I mean, that's quite a lot of money. So hopefully someone will do the right thing with the incentive of the money that's there. I mean, they should do the right thing without the money, but..."
Detective Chief Supt Lewis Hughes GMP's Head of Intelligence, says the case is one of the most difficult of his career. But he believes the answer to solving the case lies with those who knew Michael.
Commenting on Michael's behaviour at the petrol station he said: "Michael appeared to be acting erratically. He appeared to be potentially paranoid. He's only got one shoe on. He seemed to be looking round, almost agitated, as if somebody may be looking for him or coming for him."
"But after a short time in the petrol station, Michael suddenly runs across the road, down a back alley, jumps over a wall, and for all intents and purposes, we don't manage to pick him up after that point on any CCTV footage. Why Michael ran away or what he may have been worried about is really unclear."
Asked why the investigation switched from a missing person to murder in just three days, he said: "As those three days went by, the case was examined in more detail, and it's highly unusual for Michael not to contact his family in that time. Furthermore, there was no evidence that Michael had contacted anyone by phone; he had not accessed any bank account details, and there was no financial activity in that time period."
"There was intelligence that came in, we believe, from the local community that reported that something had happened to Michael, that he'd been subject to a crime. And for all those reasons combined—the absence of any proof of life shortly after his disappearance, combined with that intelligence and the concerns of the family—we became increasingly worried that this wasn't just a missing person from home. Michael, in all likelihood, had been murdered."
In 2017 the Horridge Brook area near where Michael was last seen was searched. Det Chief Supt Hughes said: "It's always really important that we determine exactly what we're looking at and we look to eliminate the possibility of other things happening. So in these circumstances, Michael's running in an agitated state with one shoe on—he may have been having some sort of episode, it's unclear.
"So we completed extensive searches of the woodland in the local area right near that last sighting of Michael, to make sure that if he'd come to harm in that woodland—in an accident or some sort of medical episode, more natural circumstances than murder—perhaps he may still be in that woodland."
"Across the three weeks of the comprehensive search, there was absolutely no evidence of that. We didn't manage to recover Michael's body or any evidence that he'd been in that woodland. And that reaffirms in our minds even more so that something more sinister has happened to him and that he actually has been murdered."
"Over the ten years since Michael's disappearance, Greater Manchester Police has responded to various intelligence reports from people in the community who may know, or believe they know, what's happened to Michael. We did receive intelligence that Michael's body was alleged to be in Clifton Country Park, down a well or some sort of shaft."
"We completed extensive searches in that area, similar to Horwich Brook, to look for any evidence of Michael or what had happened to him. But again, frustratingly, there was no evidence that Michael had come to harm in that area."
He added: "Michael did associate with criminals and, to an extent, he was a criminal himself. He was no angel, as his parents would be the first to tell you. But at the same time, Michael was more vulnerable. He was close to his family. He had some mental health and anxiety challenges."
"The people he was dealing with likely increased the likelihood of him becoming more frequently involved in criminality. It's difficult to say whether they exploited him because there's so much unknown in this case. But it's fair to say that Michael hung around with criminals, he was inherently vulnerable, but he had become a criminal himself."
"It's that same group of people that we have been looking to for answers a lot of the time in this investigation, and no information has been particularly forthcoming."
Hypotheses as to why Michael was murdered are hard to pin down. Det Chief Supt Lewis said: "It's very difficult to say conclusively because, again, there's so much unknown in this case. But when we look at Michael's associates, his movements the night before, the fact that £3,000 had been collected—we believe Michael and his associates may have been involved in drugs, they may have been involved in ATM robberies, they may have been involved in disputes with other criminals, they may have even 'taxed' other criminals of their illicit gains.
"But these are all just theories. None of that is absolutely confirmed. So whether Michael became involved in some sort of criminal dispute remains unclear."
"What we do know is Michael was agitated and appeared to look somewhat paranoid or like he may be fleeing from something or someone. Shortly after that last sighting, Michael is never seen or heard from again by anybody who loves him. And the overwhelming volume of intelligence that's come in suggests that Michael has been murdered."
Some of Michael's associates were "chaotic" and prolific criminals considered to be dangerous. Det Supt Lewis said: "Yes, I think that's safe to say so. The friend group that Michael kept as his associates—there are people within the area well known to the police who themselves have an extensive criminal history and have the potential capability to commit a crime such as this. But again, there's a real lack of information that takes us in any particular direction on this case."
Early on in the investigation two people were arrested. But they were released without charge. Addresses were searched in Blackley and a room at the Premier Inn at the side of Heaton Park. Michael's Ford Focus was found abandoned in Blackley and another car of his, a blue Corsa, was found dumped in Bannerman Avenue, Prestwich.
Det Supt Lewis said: "There is a substantial reward on this case—notably one of the maximum values that we can offer in policing. And also, it's been offered in broader circumstances than it would normally be."
"So we're offering £50,000 for anybody who can give us information that leads directly to the arrest or conviction of those responsible for Michael's murder. But really uniquely, we're offering the same £50,000 for anybody who can simply take us to Michael's body."
"So if anybody can assist us with that, it's a real heartfelt plea, ten years on, on behalf of Michael's family in particular, for someone to come forward, do the right thing, take the money at the same time by all means, but do the right thing and tell us where Michael's body is. There's nothing I'd like more, ten years on from Michael's disappearance, than to be able to give the family some answers and give them their son back to lay to rest."
"Obviously, this investigation isn't going to go away. Greater Manchester Police will continue to look for Michael's body and look for answers about exactly what's happened to him, and bring those responsible to justice."
"We also know that there are people out there who know what's happened to Michael, who may be friends, partners, associates of his criminal group of friends."
In 2018 Michael's mother, Karen Williams, made an emotional and courageous plea for those in possession of the truth to part with it. She said at the time: "He was just one of those really good kids who grew up and took the wrong path, which got him in trouble."
She last saw him on the Wednesday before he vanished. "We had a hug and a kiss and that's the last time I saw him. It has been torture, every single day. "I know he is out there somewhere and to be never able to see him, or speak to him, or tell him how much I love him again is a nightmare every day."
Appealing to those who know what happened to her son to come forward, she said: "You can do it anonymously, but you have to do this, you have to have a conscience, you can't live with this."
Ten years on it seems morally straightforward. Those who know where Michael is lying have to get a message to police. Anyone with information can contact police via the Major Incident Public Portal.
