Man quizzed on Nicola Payne disappearance

Nov 1 2007 By Neil Elkes, Birmingham Mail

A 37-YEAR-OLD man has been arrested on suspicion of the abduction and murder of missing Midland teenager Nicola Payne.

It is almost 16 years since the mother-of-one went missing from her Coventry home.

Nicola, aged 18, disappeared on a foggy winter day as she crossed an area of wasteland in the Wood End district of the city on December 14, 1991.

No trace of her has ever been found. West Midlands Police Major Investigations Unit announced today that officers arrested the man, from Derbyshire, on Tuesday.

A West Midlands Police spokeswoman said the suspect, who has not been named, was questioned by detectives.

He was later released on police bail pending further inquiries.

"We are keeping Nicola's parents, John and Marilyn, updated on the progress of the investigation," she added.

Nicola went missing as she took a short walk from her boyfriend Jason Cooke's home to the house she shared with her parents and then seven-month-old son, Owen, in Wood End.

She was crossing an area of wasteland known as the Black Pad but was never seen again.

The walk between both addresses should have taken her no more than a few minutes.

Detectives have built up a picture of a charming, respectable girl.

They said brown-haired Nicky had only 40p in her tan leather jacket.

She was wearing green trousers, a purple T-shirt, pixie boots and was carrying the keys to the new house she had bought with boyfriend Jason, then aged 20.

Despite a string of nationwide appeals for information and a £10,000 reward, police have, until now, been unable to shed any light on her whereabouts.

Her death left her family devastated and bewildered.

Police have scoured the area and made repeated missing person appeals.

At one stage a clairvoyant assisted her desperate family in the search - all to no avail.