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Timeline: DJ Derek’s disappearance
As police say they have evidence to suggest human remains found near Cribbs Causeway are of missing 73-year-old Derek Serpell-Morris, better known as DJ Derek, we look back at how news of his disappearance and the bid to trace him has unfolded:
DJ Derek’s great-niece Jennifer Griffiths raises the alarm on social media, launching an urgent appeal over missing DJ Derek who she says has not been seen for three weeks by family or friends.
Posters go up around Bristol to aid the search as part of an increasingly desperate campaign to find him.
CCTV footage is released showing the missing DJ take an unexpected route after he was last seen leaving Commercial Rooms pub on Corn Street.
Family trace back Derek’s last steps from where he was last seen in the Wetherspoons pub on July 10.
Fresh CCTV footage is released showing Derek crossing the road from Rupert Street to Lewins Mead in Bristol city centre after he left the pub.
Police refocus their search for DJ Derek after reports of a “credible sighting” at Yates bus station on July 16 or 17.
At a press conference the family of DJ Derek say they are “losing hope” that he is still alive.
The Find DJ Derek campaign appeals for donations to fund posters, T-shirts and search parties to aid the search for missing DJ.
Police appeal directly to missing DJ Derek in their latest attempt to trace him down.
Search for DJ Derek goes nationwide as police start to look for him outside of the Bristol area.
Police refocus their search to Thornbury where they believe he arrived on a bus over a month ago.
is needed now More than ever
Rivers and woodland are searched in bid to trace and find missing DJ Derek.
DJ Derek’s family find travel maps which lead them to think he traveled to Dursley, Gloucestershire.
A witness says he saw DJ Derek chased out of a pub in Thornbury
Police confirm that a man photographed in London is not DJ Derek
Police have evidence to suggest that the discovery of human remains in woodland near Patchway are of the missing DJ. The death is currently being treated as unexplained and a post-mortem examination will be carried out by a Home Office pathologist to determine the cause of death.
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