'I could barely see the words... I was crying so hard': Parents of murdered Leah Croucher reveal 'despair' of police appeal as they 'begged world' to help them find missing daughter

The parents of 19-year-old Leah Croucher who vanished on her way to work have emotionally recalled 'begging the world' to help them find their daughter.

John and Claire Croucher's lives were turned upside down on February 15, 2019 when Leah went missing while walking in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire.

Leah, who had a black belt in martial arts, had been killed by Neil Maxwell that day but no trace of her was found for more than three years despite a huge search.

Her remains were discovered in the loft of a house in October 2022 less than half a mile from where she was last seen, after a tip-off from a maintenance worker.

Maxwell, a previously convicted sex offender, killed himself while on the run from police in April 2019 - two months after Ms Croucher vanished in broad daylight.

One week after the last confirmed sighting of their daughter, Mr and Mrs Croucher held an emotional press conference at Milton Keynes police station at the start of what soon became one of Britain's most high-profile missing person cases.

Now, they have told their story for the first time in new television series 'The Search For Leah Croucher: A Parent's Nightmare' which starts on U&W this evening.

Speaking about the conference, Mrs Croucher said: 'I remember sitting down to have to write this because I didn't feel that I would be able to go and do it off the hoof.

'By the end of it, I could barely see the words because I was crying so hard. I was struggling to breathe.'

Mrs Croucher said she remembered thinking 'can Leah hear me when I'm going to be on the news later?', adding: 'Can she hear me if she's being held somewhere or will they turn the TV off so that she can't hear that we're looking for her?'

She continued: 'I was thinking that as I was reading it, my little girl probably thinks I don't love her enough to come looking for her. But my God look at what I'm doing, I'm stood in front of all these cameras, begging the world to help me find you.'

Her husband Mr Croucher added: 'I had to make sure the world knew who my daughter was... It was just absolute despair.'

In the press conference on February 22, 2019, Mrs Croucher told reporters that it was 'unbelievable' that Leah had not contacted anyone in the last week after her 'highly unusual' disappearance.

Mrs Croucher said at the time: 'Leah, if you are able to hear or see me as I read this, please, please get in touch or, better still, come home.

'It doesn't have to be me or Dad that you contact. You can call, text, email, Facebook or Snapchat anybody you feel comfortable with getting in touch. Just show us that you are safe.

'Your family, friends, work colleagues and the taekwondo community across the world are extremely concerned for your welfare. Just drop someone a call to say you are okay. We are beside ourselves with worry.'

Maxwell came on the force's radar in May 2019 after it received information on him via a phone call but officers did not link him to Leah at the time.

A murder investigation was launched in October 2022 after a maintenance worker who had been trying to eradicate a smell in a property discovered what he thought were remains and called the police.

Leah's body was found in the house in the Furzton area of Milton Keynes which was owned by people who lived abroad and used it as a holiday home and had not visited during the pandemic.

Leah would walk to work which took about 40 minutes and, depending on which route she took, one route took her past the property on Loxbeare Drive.

Officers previously visited the house at least twice, but there was no response at the property.

The police investigation involved reviewing 1,200 hours of CCTV, conducting more than 4,000 house-to-house inquiries, and searching lakes, open land and woodland.

A post-mortem examination on Leah was inconclusive and she was identified by her dental records. Her cause of death was unascertained due to decomposition.

Maxwell was a handyman and the only person with keys to the property where Leah's body was found.

He was wanted for a sex attack in Newport Pagnell in November 2018 and used false names to evade arrest, as well as stopping using his phone and car.

Officers believe he also lost weight and grew a beard to change his appearance. Some 18 attempts were made to arrest Maxwell after he went on the run.

The new two-part documentary, which has been four years in the making, looks at the ordeal faced by Mr and Mrs Croucher who went three years and nine months without knowing what had happened to their daughter.

They also faced the trauma of their son Haydon Croucher taking his own life aged 24 in November 2019, nine months after Leah went missing.

Emile Nawagamuwa, commissioning editor at UKTV, said: 'Leah's disappearance moved the nation. At the heart of this story is a family who have faced unimaginable heartbreak with extraordinary courage.

'We are privileged that John, Claire and Jade [Leah's sister] have chosen to share their experience with us for the first time.

'This is an important and necessary film that not only honours Leah's memory, but also sparks vital conversations about how we ensure tragedies like this never happen again.'

Mr and Mrs Croucher are now pushing for the creation of 'Leah's Law', which would create a mandatory minimum sentence for criminals convicted of a third sexual offence.

Adam Luria, series director for Impossible Factual, which produced the documentary, said: 'This is a project we've been working on with Leah's family and Thames Valley Police for a long time and we're really excited to be making it for UKTV.

'Leah's story is one of the most shocking and heart-breaking that the UK has seen in recent years and we're hoping this documentary will support her parents, John and Claire, and her sister, Jade, as they seek changes to British legislation to ensure something like this can't happen to another family in the future.'

'The Search For Leah Croucher: A Parent's Nightmare' airs on U&W at 9pm tonight