Renewed Appeal Over Boy Who Disappeared from Putney
Crimestoppers offering award of £20,000 for information about Vishal Mehrotra
Vishal Mehrotra
August 7, 2026
Forty-five years after eight-year-old Vishal Mehrotra vanished from Putney on the day of the Royal Wedding, Crimestoppers has launched a renewed appeal for information, offering a reward of up to £20,000 in the hope that long-buried memories may finally help solve one of Britain’s most haunting unsolved murders.
On 29 July 1981, Vishal had travelled with his father, younger sister and nanny to central London to watch the wedding procession of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. Later that afternoon, after stopping at a newsagent on Upper Richmond Road, he asked to walk home alone to Holmbush Road—a route he already knew well. It was the last time he was seen alive.
Seven months later, in February 1982, human remains were discovered at Alder Copse, a remote wooded area near Rogate in West Sussex. Vishal was formally identified from those remains. His killer has never been found.
Crimestoppers, the independent charity, is now urging anyone who may hold information—no matter how small, or how long they have kept it—to come forward anonymously. The renewed appeal coincides with the 45th anniversary of the Royal Wedding, a moment organisers hope will jog memories and prompt people to reconsider what they may have seen or heard at the time.
“You may have thought your information wasn’t important, or that too much time has passed. It hasn’t,” the charity said in its appeal. “What you know could be the vital missing piece.”
Annabelle Goodenough, Crimestoppers’ Regional Manager for South Central East, described the case as “heartbreaking,” saying Vishal’s family had lived without answers for far too long. She urged anyone reluctant to speak directly to police to use Crimestoppers’ anonymous reporting system, which guarantees complete confidentiality. Calls are not recorded, no personal details are taken, and information is passed to investigators without revealing the source.
The renewed appeal follows a resurgence of interest in the case after a BBC Sounds podcast, Vishal, revealed new lines of inquiry in 2023. Journalist Colin Campbell spent three years investigating the circumstances surrounding the disappearance, examining possible links to organised child abuse networks operating in West London and Sussex during the early 1980s. His findings prompted Sussex Police to revisit aspects of the original investigation.
Vishal’s father, Vishambar Mehrotra, has campaigned for decades for the case to remain open. He has long believed that vital leads were missed, including a phone call he received shortly after his son’s disappearance from a man claiming Vishal had been taken to the Elm Guest House in Barnes. In 2023, Sussex Police apologised to him for failing to make an earlier connection between the murder and a document titled “Vishal” found in the possession of convicted paedophile Nicholas Douglass during a separate investigation in 1996. The link was not recognised until 2019.
Police have confirmed that all viable lines of inquiry arising from recent media coverage are being pursued. Senior detectives met with Vishambar in May 2023 to reassure him that further enquiries were underway.
The Crimestoppers reward marks the latest attempt to break the silence that has surrounded the case for nearly half a century. Vishal’s family, who have endured decades of uncertainty, continue to hope that someone will finally come forward.
Anyone with information can contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via the charity’s secure online form.
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