Hi, and welcome back to The Unseen Podcast, a podcast dedicated to missing people, unresolved cases, and UK true crime.

Today is day two of twelve days of missing person cases throughout December.

In this episode, we're exploring the disappearance of twenty two year old Lee Buckle.

In nineteen ninety four, Lee disappeared in India and since then he has had no information about what happened to him, despite huge amounts of effort from his family.

This episode is about a missing person and so does not contain any graphic descriptions, but listener discretion is always advised.

On October nineteenth, nineteen ninety four, John and June Buckle arrived at the airport to pick up their twenty two year old son Lee.

Lee had left for a three month backpacking trip to the Kashmere region of India in June that year.

Lee was very passionate about trekking and hiking, and it was something that he had done lots of before.

He had previously treked in the Atlas Mountains in Africa and was therefore well equipped for this backpacking trip to the Himalayas.

After completing his geology degree at the University of Southampton.

He was interested in traveling and seeing the world.

Lee had grown up with his mother June and father John, along with his younger brothers Damon and James, in Saint Helen's.

He had attended Newton High School in Newton Loa, Willows before heading off to study further.

His love of the outdoors and trekking was clear, and it was something that he shared with some of his friends.

In nineteen ninety four, his plan was to trek in the Himalayas and then head to Nepal to meet up with friends.

His parents were confident that Lee knew what he was doing, as he had been traveling and trekking before.

They later explained that while he'd packed light for this trip to India, he had taken essentials to keep him safe, like a full first aid kit.

This made them feel a little better about this trip.

Lee had set off at the end of June nineteen ninety four, and his parents had received a letter from him in early July.

He had told his parents that he couldn't be in touch for a while as he was going to start his trek and so wouldn't be somewhere that he could be reached.

Following this letter, His parents hadn't thought much more of it, given that they knew that he would not be around to send or receive post.

They didn't hear from him again that summer.

However, this did not seem to alarm them given the nature of Lee's trip.

They did know that he would be returning in October for his cousin's wedding, and so on October nineteenth, his parents went to the airport to pick him up.

Lee did not arrive as planned.

This was the first that his parents knew that there was something wrong.

They knew that Lee would not just have disappeared without telling them or letting them know if he'd changed his plans.

His mom, June, later said, he would have known that we would be worrying about him if he didn't return.

He would make sure to tell us if he'd decided to stay on something is wrong and for some reason he can't tell us.

The fact that Lee just did not return from India was immediately worrying.

The last contact that they had with him was in July, when he'd sent a letter telling them that he was about to begin his trek.

What had happened since then and where was Lee?

The whole situation didn't seem right to his parents, and they quickly began to try and make a plan to figure it out.

His family began the painstaking process of trying to figure out where Lee had been and what could have happened.

This was difficult from the outset, given the distance from where Lee had last been known to be.

His family contacted the Foreign Office to try and find out as much information as they could.

It had been three months since they last had contact, and so it was hard to imagine what could have happened during this time.

The family contacted everyone that they could think of to help them, including police forces in both India as well as the UK, and also the Foreign Office, with the hope that they could help to further track him down.

They knew his general direction of travel, but of course, the area of the Himalayas is vast.

A description of Lee was circulated, as well as photographs of him, which were put in the area where he'd last been headed.

At the time of his disappearance.

Lee was six feet one inches tall, with blue eyes and long, blonde, straight hair.

It was hoped that someone would recognize this description, corresponding with authorities in another country must have been extremely difficult, given the differences in procedures and the fact that Lee was an adult who is entitled to travel where he likes.

The nature of Lee's trip also meant that he told his parents he would be out of contact for a while.

Interpol were involved and were liaising with the Indian High Commission.

They stated that a search was taking place in the area and that they were attempting to track him down.

Lee's family were determined to do what they can to locate him and began trying to conduct their own investigation.

They found two women who had seen Lee in the city of Lay before setting off on his trek.

He had told them that he was going to undertake a very difficult trek to the town of Padam.

The women didn't want to join him on this trek, and Lee told them that he would meet back up with them in ten days.

The women reported that they didn't see him again.

They were concerned about Lee not turning up at the designated checkpoint, and they were worried enough that reported his disappearance to authorities.

They gave them Lee's route and explained where he'd planned to go.

When Lee's parents spoke to the Indian authorities about this report.

They denied that the two women had made it.

They were upset and frustrated by the lack of information that they were receiving and the lack of progress being made to find him.

Thee's dad said at the time, we just don't know what to do.

Our son is missing and no one seems able or willing to help.

Not knowing is the awful thing.

When Mark Thatcher, Margaret Thatcher's son went missing, all the stops were pulled out to find him.

Why is our son still missing?

We feel that we just can't get anyone to take notice.

From what we can gather, there wasn't even a search Fulee, despite the fact that two people raised the alarm with the authorities when he failed to reach his destination.

We want the Foreign Office to act and help end our frustration and heartache.

The weather in that region began to take a turn and the investigation was hampered by blizzards.

A spokesman from the Foreign Office made a statement about the investigation.

A search has been continuing for some time now.

This is a very different situation, a wide area and the snows are coming in.

We have asked for the new Delhi Offices for a full report about the situation and expect to have that next week.

The snow in the region did hinder the investigation for a while until July nineteen ninety five.

The next year, it was reported that a new search for him was planned now that the snow began to thaw.

Sadly, this search did not turn up any new information, and time passed for Lee's family with no answers.

In two thousand and nine, the family made an appeal on the fifteenth anniversary of his disappearance.

They had lived for over a decade without any answers as to what happened to him.

John and June Buckle explained the Foreign Office told us that someone thought they'd seen him three years ago, and that spicked it all off again.

I love to find out anything about Lee, whatever that might be.

I'm appealing to everyone who's been traveling in India or are going to go out to look for him and let us know if you think you may have spotted him.

We try to carry on, but when the four of us get together, it's obvious someone is missing, and it's especially hard at this time of year.

Whether it's good or bad, we just want some news of our son this Christmas.

John also added, we just need closure because the difficult thing for us is that there's just no end to it.

We hadn't had any reason to worry, as he had been writing to us.

The last contact we had from him was in the July.

He told us he couldn't get in contact for a while as he was going to be doing a trek.

The last thing I said to him was don't go anywhere difficult on your own, but sadly that's what he did.

We know that the likelihood is he isn't alive, missing at a time when a lot of people were being kidnapped in the region, but a body has never been found, so we live in hope.

Since this time, there has been little information published about Lee's disappearance, and I can't imagine how hard that must be for his family.

Lee seems to have disappeared without a trace, and from what I can gather, no trace of him or his possessions have ever been recovered.

Lee is listed as a missing person on the Missing People database, and it's crucial that his disappearance remains in the public consciousness despite the time that has elapsed and his disappearance so far from home, there is always hope that someone will remember something or remember being there during that time.

I will link Lee's Missing People profile in the show notes.

Thank you for listening to day two of twelve Days of Missing Person episodes in December.

Stay tuned for Day three in a couple of days.

If you'd like to support the podcast further, then you can on Patreon and contribute to exclusive polls to get extra bonus episodes every month.

You can also get access to new episodes early in ad free.

You can use the link in the show notes to visit Patreon and see what we offer.

You can also support us by reviewing the podcast wherever you listen in including Spotify as our ways.

I'm Caprice and this has been unseen