The family of a teenager suspected to have been a victim of the serial killer Fred West have expressed sadness that her remains have not been found after the basement of a Gloucester cafe was excavated by police.
Relatives of 15-year-old Mary Bastholm, who vanished in 1968, said they still hoped the mystery of what happened to her will one day be solved.
Detectives investigated six “voids” in the basement floor of the Clean Plate cafe in Gloucester after a television documentary team spotted what it believed to be blue material buried underground. When Mary went missing she was wearing a blue coat and a blue and white dress, and had a blue bag.
But Gloucestershire constabulary said on Thursday they had found no remains and nothing of interest to their inquiry after their operation, which has cost at least £50,000.
They said “blue colouration” in an image passed to them by the documentary team was connected to a broken pipe, possibly caused when the television crew drilled into the floor.
Martin Cuff, the crime scene coordinator, said: “The presence of a blue material was a key factor. It shaped part of the decisions for why we were going to perform this excavation. We haven’t found anything we would describe as blue material consistent with an item of clothing.
“There is a possibility that the blue colouration that was seen might be the result of damage to one of the newer pipes that were installed. If you look at the centre of them and shine a white light source on them they do seem to give off a blue colouration. That seems consistent with the images taken by the production crew.”
The assistant chief constable, Craig Holden, said: “Everyone working on this is disappointed that we didn’t find Mary. Allowing her family to finally lay Mary to rest after over 50 years was always the most important reason for our excavation.
“I am now confident that Mary is not buried in the cellar of the cafe and I hope that eliminating this location will bring some comfort, however small, to her family.
“I hope there is some consolation for local people. We have finally answered whether Mary’s body was under a busy cafe in the centre of Gloucester.”
He said he did not think there was any “legal basis” to seek costs from the television production company, adding: “Although, as a gesture of goodwill, if they were prepared to provide something then that would be something we would need to discuss with them and, of course, the cafe owners.”
In a statement, Mary’s family said: “We are still very sad that Mary has not been found. We were hoping to get a final closure on her disappearance so that we could put her to rest.
“We have been open-minded throughout this process and we now know that the cafe can be ruled out. We can, however, hold out some hope that one day Mary will be found.
“Mary was a strong-willed and happy-go-lucky teenager, dearly loved by her parents and two brothers. She enjoyed life and was just coming into her own when her life was tragically cut short.
“Her parents and two brothers were never the same after she went missing. They have now sadly passed away without ever knowing what happened to their loving daughter and sister.”
West was previously suspected of killing Mary. Along with his wife, Rose West, he tortured, raped and murdered an unknown number of women over a 20-year period.
West is said to have confessed to his son, Stephen, that he had killed Mary but did not admit it to police. The girl’s body was not found during the 1994 excavation of the Wests’ home on Cromwell Street in Gloucester.
West was charged with 12 murders, but took his own life in prison in 1995, aged 53, before his trial. Rose West was convicted of 10 murders in November 1995 and is serving a life sentence.
