Leah Croucher prime suspect Neil Maxwell whined to pal 'I can't go back to prison' while on the run over sex attack | The Sun
THE prime suspect in Leah Croucher's murder whined "I can't go back to jail" while on the run over a sex attack.
Neil Maxwell was wanted by police at the time of Leah's disappearance in February 2019 in connection with the sex assault.
He managed to evade arrest 18 times by travelling across the UK and using false alibis.
Convicted sex attacker Maxwell, who killed himself in April 2019, made a panicked call to a pal weeks before Leah vanished.
The friend told the Mirror: "He rang me out of the blue and insisted he hadn’t done what the police were saying.
“He said he was scared. He couldn’t face going back inside.”
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When asked if it was possible Maxwell had murdered Leah, the pal added: "I only ever saw the nice Neil, but he had done bad things in the past. I don’t know what to believe.”
Police made the unusual decision on Friday to name Maxwell as their prime suspect in Leah's murder.
It came after human remains and Leah's belongings were found in the loft of a home in Furzton on Monday.
Maxwell had carried out maintenance work at the property from November 2018.
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He was the only person to have keys to the property while the owners, who are not involved in the case, were away.
There are now fears Leah may have been held captive at the address for weeksbefore she was killed.
She was last seen on February 15, 2019, in Milton Keynes as she walked to work in a finance firm.
The teen told her family the day before she was meeting a friend but that never happened.
CCTV showed her walking down Buzzacott Lane in Furzton, believed to be in the direction of her work, at about 8.15am the next day.
The house at the centre of the murder probe is just 0.4miles from where Leah's last movements were captured.
It is also near Furzton Lake, where the teen's phone left the network – consistent with it being destroyed – at 8.34am.
Until Monday when the tip came in about the unoccupied home, there was no link between Maxwell and Leah.
The fiend was wanted by police at the time of Leah's disappearance in connection with the sexual assault in Newport Pagnell in November 2018.
This was reported to Bedfordshire Police on November 29, 2018, but was then transferred to Thames Valley Police that day.
Officers attempted to arrest him the following day at a home in Milton Keynes but he was not there.
His name was placed on the police database the following month and a public appeal was shared on April 4, 2019.
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The fugitive took his own life on April 20, 2019, after officers made 18 attempts to arrest him.
Police are now being probed over potential "mistakes" made in their handling of the case.
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