'We Were Accused of Murdering Our Own Son' | This Morning

[Music] the horrifying story of two parents who were accused of killing their own son 28 years after he went missing yes doris and charles clark hit the headlines last september when they were both arrested on suspicion of murdering stephen clark well the couple have now been released without charge and their story has been made into a new itv documentary and darris and charles join us now alongside mark williams thomas who's been looking into the crime you okay are you okay do you need a minute all right okay now this as a parent and we were talking about this this morning it is what you hope would be the unthinkable and to remain strong over that this long long period of time like you have done is remarkable first of all absolutely remarkable that you're sitting here and able to talk about it i want to if you can do go back to the day when this happened so you were out walking with your son yeah and then what happens just you know a regular day right yes when we we charles was going to a football match and steven usually went with him and jokingly his dad said yes you can come to the football match if you buy your own ticket this time and um there was a bit of a do about it you know we just because it was always a joke that he wouldn't spend his money anyway charles went off to the football match and stephen and i then walked along the beach to saltburn which is the next village from mosque and it was very cold bright day and we got as far as the end of the beat and i said to steven we'd better walk back because the tide's coming in and it's getting dark and he said well first of all i want to go to the gents so we walked off the beach along the prom and he went into the gents and i stood to one side and um i haven't seen him since so did you just it was it like him to go to the loo and just vanish and disappear or i think if i was walking with my mum um then she'd be standing there for a while and uh and then she'd be wondering where i was and then she would definitely have been shouting through the door and then she would probably now in my mum i've come in to make sure that i haven't fallen over on the floor well i never thought that i went into the ladies first and then i came out and stood and people have asked me why didn't you go in i said well he would have been horrified if i'd gone in and uh to find out how because he was 23 he was an adult it's not as though he was a child you can still fall over and bang your head when you're 23. i i wouldn't have i wouldn't have thought to do that yeah yeah yeah fair enough i mean i did wait for it were there other people around there were masses of people it was a lovely day like we've been having lately very cold but especially saltburn a lot of people visit saltburn especially on bank holidays right it was so this is this is that's it i mean you go back home um charles you come back from the football match uh and at what point do you think charles this this is this has become an issue here this is not him you know going to the loo and then having a bit of a wander and coming home late when did you think there was a problem i can't remember what i thought but i thought something must be up somewhere so i mean i went out on the beach and looked for him but the tide was we they'd walked along the beach and got to salt them just as as the tide was coming in i went down to the beach which is next to our house it's just 20 yards away 50 yards away and the tide was right up he couldn't walk along the beach so i thought it was silly to go to salt though when he there's no way so i got in my car and went to saltburn and went all over the place looking for him shout out to him as a dad yes and then you can't find him and you never hear from him again and 28 years go by nothing 28 years ago never heard a word and then suddenly there's a knock on the door and you have um the police there arrested the fact that uh you are accused of his murder is shocking tear up your house they tear up your garden um what was your motive for allegedly killing him well there's i i don't think they're really said anything about a motive that just uh there was nothing said like that there was they never said that at all so there must you work with this case in a murder there is a motive sure it is the most bizarre case and i've investigated many many cases they get arrested on suspicion of the murder of their son they're interviewed twice then they're released on bail and it's at that point i become involved and i spent 17 weeks with charles and doris and i have to say when i first started i treated them as though they were suspects really they were suspects by the police so when we started to talk to them and charles and doris are telling you themselves i did i gave them a hard time at times you know i had some very searching questions to get answers from them and i spent more time with them than any of the investigating officers right and after the end of the 17 weeks as the program shows they were cleared from all involvement but what we do show in the program is we now will reveal totally the evidence that the police have got in relation to charles and doris and people can make up their own mind as how strong that evidence is but i think what you do see is a journey quite uniquely of the impact of being arrested on suspicion of your son's murder 28 years on and what that does they won't mind me saying this to an elderly couple what they've been through is an emotional role heartbreaking i mean how you could possibly be in that situation at any age but particularly when you're that old and you've lost your son i mean the the tears that uh dice has shown even charles i mean charles presents himself as an incredibly strong person but we've sat and spoken quite a lot of times and it's really pulled you apart how how as i was saying before as parents it is every parent's worst nightmare your son's been missing for 28 years getting that knock at the door which must have hit you like a bolt out of the blue yeah how do you cope with that i don't know i don't know i suppose we're fairly laid back as a couple um but when they they rang the doorbell and i opened the door it was it's only eight o'clock in the morning they came without any warning whatsoever and uh asked where charles was and i said well he's in the shower and so i had to call him down and he came down and again we were cautioned and told that we were being arrested for the murder of stephen clark well i i i think i'd give her a laugh you know a sort of nervous laugh he said i couldn't believe it well the um i mean we were it was shocking that particular time um i mean we'd spent 28 years trying to get the police involved right and they never hardly ever ever every year they would appear and say how is steve where is he and all the rest of it well the the police say the arrests were planned sensitively a police station was open specifically for the two people arrested and only then each stage was prepared to take into account their age and any other circumstances including any vulnerabilities those arrested are also given the opportunity to have a legal representative present during the interview which is under caution and the statement from the cleveland police says the new investigation has been led by the cleveland and north yorkshire cold case unit following a review of the case each stage of this investigation has been planned sensitively and carefully um do you still hope that he's going to walk through your door yes yes yes because we we haven't got any there's no evidence at all otherwise if there was we'd appreciate it you know i wish i would like this program and whatever else we do for somebody or somewhere to find stephen i don't know where he is and it would be lovely to know alive or dead it doesn't matter you've mark you've spent um considerable amount of time with um with two grieving parents here um are they murderers no no i mean i i asked charles very direct questions after it's very direct questions i'm very confident that they didn't kill stephen the question is is where is stephen there is no doubt somebody or more than one person out there who has information i believe stephen was alive in the days after he disappeared but he did go somewhere and in terms of the police focus of course is they're now calling this a murder investigation there's nobody there's no proof of life which means that they've looked enquiries in terms of driving license passport bank accounts no movement and anything there i think the reality is is that stephen is dead but the question is is is where and how they believe a third party was involved hence why charles and dice were arrested obviously as mum and dad you want him to after 28 years come back through that door no questions asked i suppose anything that may happen totally forgiven on the other hand if the worst has happened then you just want information you just want to be able to know where he is yeah i mean although we haven't got an ending to this we still have hope yeah of course who spent 28 years every day looking for him oh god and it's no different today well thank you for coming in today i hope there is some sort of resolution for you um accused of murdering our son the uh stephen clark story is on thursday at 9 nine on itv and thank you well done thank you thank you very much

Channel: This Morning

Views: 342,799

Keywords: this morning, holly willoughby, phillip schofield, this morning funniest, Holly & Phillip funny

Id: -0gCJzeT2Wo

Length: 10min 17sec (617 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 19 2021