Age: 41
Sex: male
Date: 15 Sep 2008
Place: Palm Trees Restaurant, Great Saling, Essex
Paul Duckenfield was last seen in Great Saling on the evening of 15 September 2008 at the Palm Trees restaurant in Great Saling.
It was thought that he had been involved in an anabolic steroid ring from the Czech Republic.
Several people were arrested on suspicion of his murder, but none were charged. Nine people were arrested in total in the UK with other suspected offences including perverting the course of justice and firearms breaches.
Those arrested included:
Paul Duckenfield had lived in Portimao, Portugal with his wife and two children but regularly returned to the UK on business, flying in to either Stanstead or the East Midlands. He had run a company called International Debt and Security Consultants in Derby.
He was believed to have dealt in steroids used by bodybuilders and athletes and was known in gyms across the West Midlands, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
It was thought that during his last trip via Stanstead on an EasyJet flight from Faro, arriving at 2pm, that he had gone to gyms and leisure facilities around the Great Saling and Braintree areas after which he had gone to the restaurant. He had been picked up from the airport by his business partner and was last seen at the Palm Trees restaurant in Great Saling on the evening of 15 September 2008. He was due to fly back home on 19 or 20 September 2008 but didn't make his flight and has not been seen since.
The police said that although his body has not been found that they thought that he had been murdered in the Essex area around 16 September 2008, with the motive being his involvement in an international steroids network with links to the Czech Republic.
During the investigation, the police said, 'Already the investigation has uncovered serious crime and I believe his murderers will be associated with these crimes'.
The investigation into his murder resulted in several people being convicted for drug dealing in the Czech Republic as well as a number of people in the UK being convicted under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
During the police investigation they took over 800 statements and developed more than 2,600 lines of enquiry.
Paul Duckenfield had previously lived in Derbyshire and a house in north Essex was searched in the hunt for him.
It was noted that Paul Duckenfield had previously been featured in an ITV television program called The Cook Report entitled 'Dying to look good', that dealt with the issue of steroids mis-use.
Paul Duckenfield was described as:
