Three months before Catrin Maguire's disappearance she had a traumatic experience. The then-22-year-old still seemed to be enjoying university in Bangor and she spoke excitedly about plans for the future. But she was also dealing with something that had "scared the hell" out of her, say her parents Gerry and Wendy.
It stemmed from what her parents describe – based on conversations with her daughter and witnesses – as a "vicious verbal assault". They believe it was the trigger for their beloved daughter going missing on Monday, November 15, 2021. North Wales Police's handling of both the missing person investigation and the previous incident has left the family feeling badly let down. And a damning internal report by the force has described its performance in six parts of those investigations as "unacceptable".
Two years after Catrin's disappearance her parents have told us their lives are a "groundhog day" of grief. We have spoken to them for previous appeals but this is the first time they have revealed the circumstances they believe sparked their daughter's disappearance. Gerry and Wendy are not speaking out only to raise awareness of police failings – they believe Catrin is still alive and they are desperate for anyone with answers to come forward.
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Their hope lies in the things that don't quite add up. The return ticket bought by their thrifty daughter who did not return. The absence of any known mental health issues. Her excitement to go travelling and then start a master's. "It's like doing a jigsaw without looking at the box," said Gerry, 52. "We believe there's a lot more to it. Somebody, somewhere knows something... You just don't go missing out of the blue."
Gerry describes Catrin as a "happy-go-lucky girl" with a "very quiet but very caring nature". He recalls when she did work experience at St Mary's primary school in Holyhead – the Anglesey town where the family live – and "all the kids took to her like a magnet". He added that Catrin loves "white-knuckle rides" and water theme parks and had plans to do a parachute jump for charity. Gerry said his daughter "loves knitting" and also has a "lovely twisted sense of humour". When Catrin went missing she was in her third year of a health and social care course at Bangor University and preparing for a master's in the same subject at Birmingham's Newman University. She wanted a career where she could steer vulnerable youngsters away from trouble.
The Saturday before Catrin went missing she joined friends in Bangor for a movie night. They are the last people known to have talked to her. She was due to meet one of those friends on the Monday to sign a tenancy agreement for the flat they had been staying in. But Catrin never turned up. Instead she bought a return ticket that morning to Holyhead. In the early afternoon CCTV caught Catrin walking just 150 yards from her parents' house. She was last seen at 1.18pm walking near the café of the RSPB nature reserve. A shepherd sitting in a parked van said they saw her walk past the café and up the hill towards the car park.
What hasn't been revealed until now is that Catrin had been verbally abused by a woman involved in the letting of her previous accommodation. The family claim this woman – who is described in the internal police report as Catrin's "landlady" – did not inform Catrin or her friend before they moved in that building work would be taking place in the flat above.
The pair, who were each paying rent of £411 a month, allegedly started their tenancy in August 2021 to find the flat ridden with mould. Gerry and Wendy claim water was coming in through a bay window and the carpet was filthy. After six buckets' worth of carpet cleaning the parents said the water coming out of it was still dark brown. Holes had been drilled in the hall ceiling. The entrance and back garden were filled with work materials while scaffolding poles meant windows could not be fully opened.
"I was appalled," said Wendy, 51. "I told Catrin: 'You're not staying here – it's disgusting.' But she was 22. The last thing you do is say no because they will do it. There was so much mould that Catrin's asthma came back within 10 days. That was after 10 years of not having it."
Catrin emailed a complaint to the landlady on August 10 asking that the carpet be cleaned or replaced. Later that day the woman entered the home uninvited, went into Catrin's room, and started shouting at her. Catrin and witnesses alleged that the landlady had screamed at her: "You're a vile young woman – you come across as sweet and timid but look at you. I expected better from homegrown." The landlady allegedly threw her own phone on the floor and stamped on it in rage before her partner dragged her out of the property.
Wendy remembers Catrin phoning to ask: "Can I stay a few nights? I don't like living here anymore, I'm scared." Catrin stayed in the family home for about four nights but felt she was missing out on the student experience and decided to return to the Bangor flat. Her parents were concerned. Gerry recalls telling Catrin: "She's come into your home and done this? As far as I'm concerned that contract is null and void." Wendy said that although Catrin was "not a social animal" she started to go out more so she didn't have to spend time in the flat. She began sleeping with a wedge under the bedroom door.
The day after the verbal abuse Catrin had reported the incident to police. But it was not until after her disappearance that police made a community resolution order with a letter of apology from the landlady. Catrin told her parents the force had not taken it seriously and she felt "dismissed". The internal police report would later find that although there had been difficulties arranging a meeting and "unforeseen operational commitments" it was "not acceptable" that Catrin waited more than two months to give a statement. Police also failed to interview the landlady or witnesses before Catrin went missing.
Gerry and Wendy believe the feeling of being an "inconvenience" to police affected Catrin's state of mind. Meanwhile the problems in the flat were getting worse. She finally moved out in late September when the rotting ceiling above the bay window in her flatmate's room collapsed onto her settee and Gwynedd Council deemed the property "uninhabitable". Catrin spent three weeks at the family home before she and the flatmate moved into a new flat in Hill Street, Bangor, behind an Irish pub called Patrick's.
Despite the dilapidation of the previous flat the landlady's partner sent emails demanding money from Catrin and her flatmate due to their nine-month rental contract. Messages show he initially asked they pay rent for the next three months before dropping the request to two. Wendy dubbed it an attempt to "take advantage" of two young woman who were "too nice". After speaking with her family Catrin refused to pay the £822 demanded.
Gerry said a "brilliant" letting agent allowed Catrin and her friend to move into the Hill Street home before signing an agreement. Although stressed by the fallout from the last tenancy Catrin was up to date with university assignments and her GP was aware of no issues beyond her asthma. She had recently got a passport so she could take a gap year after finishing her course. Her final conversation with her parents – six days before she went missing – was a phone call.
Wendy said: "Her brother Ciaran had passed his driving test that day and Catrin joked: 'You can tell him he's not having my car.' Bear in mind he's 6ft 2in and would barely fit in her C1. Then we were in hysterics because she'd seen a spider on the stairs and she said: 'The bloody spider is following me.' We were all having a laugh for 45 minutes. Her new flat was toasty and warm. She was saying: 'This is much better.'"
The disappearance came to light on Tuesday, November 16, when the flatmate asked Catrin's family if she was with them as she had not turned up to the tenancy signing the day before. Police later told the family that Catrin's phone had been "powered down manually rather than catastrophically" at about 2.12pm on the Monday shortly after the device received a message from her friend: "Don't forget to come and sign." In other words the phone was turned off rather than broken.
The parents believe Catrin could have planned to meet someone on the island that day. "I think she made arrangements to be picked up there," said Gerry. "We believe she may have bought a return ticket so she could get home if the person didn't turn up."
Wendy added: "My hypothesis is that Catrin was pregnant. She had lost weight and when we emptied her flat the amount of sanitary wear that came back suggested she hadn't had any [periods]."
The parents suspect the landlady incident and an issue like a pregnancy could have built up in their daughter's mind to make her consider running away. They say Catrin knew they were there for her no matter what but they also believe the stresses in her life could have clouded her logic. Wendy described Catrin as a "massive fan" of Hunted – a reality show where contestants go missing and try to evade detection. "She'd say: 'I'd love to do that.' Because she wasn't on social media her digital footprint was very small."
The family had difficulties with the missing person investigation from the start. They kept finding themselves speaking to different officers – 14 in total – and having to repeat information. Wendy said it was a "slap in the face" when they were told to call 101 for updates, sometimes meaning an hour on hold. One of the moments that most damaged their trust in the force came when the parents requested a national media appeal and the senior officer leading the investigation told them over the phone that the "working hypothesis" was Catrin had taken her own life at South Stack Cliffs. The call, which took place three days after Catrin was reported missing, was described by the parents as "callous beyond comprehension". They still feel "scarred" by it. The internal police report found the conversation should have been face-to-face and the service here was "not acceptable".
The same officer who made that phone call also assured the parents she would seize CCTV from a Morrison's supermarket Catrin was known to have shopped at two days before her disappearance. Gerry and Wendy hoped the footage would show she met someone or give a clue to her state of mind. But the officer did not get the video, which was then overwritten.
The parents felt "completely dismissed" when they suggested to the officer that another party could have been involved in the disappearance. And another officer told the family early in the investigation that there would be no more phone work due to cost. The internal report later concluded this officer's words were "incorrect and inappropriate" as spend was not an issue at that stage. Shaking his head Gerry said: "We were made to feel we were costing them too much money to search for our daughter. You look at the resources chucked at the Nicola Bulley case [a widely publicised Lancashire Constabulary missing person investigation in 2023]. Wow, it was massive. What's the difference between her and Catrin?"
The most bizarre element of the investigation came in May 2022. A witness phoned the force to report a possible sighting of Catrin in Holyhead. The call handler replied there were no missing females in Holyhead. This was challenged by the witness. The call handler then claimed the missing woman was in "southern Ireland" where local police were "assisting" North Wales officers with inquiries. The witness contacted Catrin's family who had heard nothing of her being in Ireland.
The internal report later found the call handler had given "factually incorrect information". In an apology the handler said she "could not explain" her own comments beyond possibly mixing up the case with another. It was another blow to the relationship with the family. "There's no faith in North Wales Police left," said Wendy. "It's been obliterated."
But the parents have not lost faith that Catrin will one day return to their lives. They see hope in the words of the search and rescue coordinator who told them the sniffer dogs had followed Catrin's scent from the town centre before losing it in the top car park in South Stack. They searched the entire area close to the cliffs and picked up no scent.
It took months for Gerry, who has a removals business, and Wendy, a local authority employee, to return to work. They still barely sleep. "People ask how we manage," said Gerry. "We don't. We put one foot in front of the other." Wendy added: "Even when you go on holiday it's always there. When you have a nice time you think: 'Do I feel guilty now? Why should I be smiling? Catrin is missing and I'm out with friends.'"
Gerry continued: "We have one step in the future and one in the past. We're stuck in limbo. We've been told it's called ambiguous loss, where you don't know either way if you'll see a person again. If there's a death and a burial there's a process. We don't have that. Until we get answers we can't move on."
Some of the family's friends and loved ones have given "unbelievable" support. But their circle of friends is smaller now. Some people have not known what to say, perhaps dreading the discomfort or awkwardness of a conversation. "We've been in supermarkets where people we know have seen us and veered off," said Gerry.
Then there are the cruel anonymous Facebook comments. More than one account has trolled the family following appeals for information. "One person lied that police had found pills and powder in Catrin's flat and that she was at the bottom of the sea," said Gerry. "That's the kind of comments we've got."
In the internal report North Wales Police admits failings in its response to the landlady incident as well as upholding allegations that three officers in the missing person case showed an "unprofessional attitude and disrespect". The force also said there were failings over the lack of a family liaison officer and over the performance of the call handler who gave false information. The senior officer who led the missing person investigation and whose conduct was found to be "not acceptable" by the professional standards probe was later promoted. Wendy described this as a "slap in the face".
The complaint which led to the professional standards report was made by Virginia Crosbie, MP for Ynys Môn, on behalf of Catrin's family. The MP told WalesOnline: "My heart goes out to Mr and Mrs Maguire who remain devastated by the disappearance of their daughter Catrin and who have done everything in their power to find her. I supported them in their complaint against North Wales Police to ensure action was taken by the force. It is disappointing that several officers fell below the standard we should all expect. My hope now is that lessons will be learned by North Wales Police and there should be no repeat of what happened. The investigation has been thorough and transparent and that is a good start."
Gerry and Wendy have vowed never to give up their search. They are appealing for information from anyone who was in the RSPB area at the time and saw "anything that didn't quite fit". And in a message to their daughter they said: "Wherever you are, whatever has happened, just get in touch. Let us know you're safe. We miss you terribly. We love you and want you home and back with us."
North Wales Police deputy chief constable Nigel Harrison said: “Our thoughts are with Catrin’s family on the second anniversary of her disappearance. Following concerns raised by Catrin’s family an internal investigation concluded that the level of service they received in some aspects of our engagement with them fell below the standard we would expect and which they deserved. I would like to apologise to them for the distress this caused. Sadly at this moment in time there is no further information available which would enable us to progress the case further but should any come to light it will be reviewed.”
Catrin is around 5ft 5in tall with a slim build. She had on a black duffel coat and a light-coloured handbag on the day she disappeared. If you have information that could help call North Wales Police on 101 quoting reference Z167766. The family thanked the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, the Môn-SAR search and rescue team, Mrs Crosbie, and community of Holyhead. You can watch a televised interview with Gerry and Wendy here.
