Charlene Downes: What happened to the Blackpool teenager who disappeared 20 years ago

The parents of a schoolgirl feared to have been murdered after vanishing without a trace 20 years ago have remained in their hometown despite daily taunts from locals.

Charlene Downes, 14, disappeared from Blackpool in November 2003, and while no one has been brought to justice over her death, the cold case was reopened last month in the hope of uncovering new leads.

Her parents Bob and Karen Downes have said they've been trolled and abused by locals in the Lancashire resort town, but that they have no plans to leave.

The pair have become the target of taunts after it emerged convicted sex offender Ray Munro was staying at their family home when Charlene vanished, but Mr Downes has denied knowing his friend was a paedophile.

In an interview with the Blackpool Gazette, he said: "They don't walk around with a plaque saying what they are. They're not going to advertise the fact, are they?”

Insisting that he has no plans to leave Blackpool, he added: "Why should I run? Why should I hide? Why should I change my identity?"

Here, Yahoo News UK takes a look at the investigation into the disappearance of Charlene Downes.

What year did Charlene Downes go missing?

Charlene Downes was reported missing after she failed to show up at her family's home in Blackpool on 1 November, 2003.

Her mother said she last saw her daughter that evening, at around 6.45pm, while handing out leaflets for an Indian restaurant in the town centre.

She told BBC programme Crimewatch how Charlene and her sister Rebecca both came over for a chat, with Charlene saying she was going to meet some female friends.

Charlene called them using a nearby phone box and waited with her mother until they arrived. That was the last contact Mrs Downes ever had with her daughter.

Has Charlene Downes been found?

To this day, Charlene has never been located, with police in 2014 offering a reward of £100,000 for information leading to the recovery of her body or the conviction of her killers.

Although her remains have never been found, Charlene is presumed dead, with police suspecting she was killed shortly after she disappeared.

What happened to Charlene Downes?

Charlene was believed to have been one of 60 girls, some as young as 11, who were targeted by grooming gangs to carry out sex acts.

According to an internal police report, employees at 11 takeaway shops in the town centre had been exploiting young girls, giving them cigarettes, food and alcohol in return for sex.

In 2011, former Lancashire Constabulary Detective Superintendent Mick Gradwell told The Times the investigation into child grooming in Blackpool, Blackburn and Burnley had been "hampered by political correctness and concerns about upsetting community cohesion".

This was because the majority of victims in the grooming scandal were white and the perpetrators were non-white, although Lancashire Police denied any kind of cover-up.

Read more: Charlene Downes mother's desperate plea for missing Blackpool teen to 'end terrible nightmare' after 20 years

In fact, several arrests have been made over Charlene's disappearance and death, with two men, Iyad Albattikhi, 29, owner of the Funny Boyz takeaway, and his business partner Mohammed Reveshi standing trial in May 2007.

Prosecutors claimed her body was cut up and minced into kebabs and her bones crushed into tile grouting.

Read more: Charlene Downes's parents open up about ongoing abuse and trolling from the public

Jurors were played taped conversations in which it was alleged the owner joked he killed the girl, that she was "chopped up" and her body had "gone into the kebabs".

Albattikhi was charged with murder, and Reveshi with helping him dispose of the body, but they were later cleared.

Charges were dropped when a jury was unable to reach a verdict and a retrial was dropped after the police probe was judged to have been "handled unprofessionally".

Another man, former cafe owner Nigel Lloyd, 51, was arrested on suspicion of murder in 2017, but was released two days later.

Nearly 20 years after Charlene's death, Dr Kirsty Bennett, a lecturer at Leeds Trinity University specialising in cold cases, will lead a new team trying to discover what happened to the teen.

She will work with Ronay Crompton, from the Justice for Charlene Downes campaign, who had previously been working with a private investigator before being approached by Dr Bennett.

Read more: Blackpool community calls for justice for missing Charlene Downes as 20-year anniversary looms

"Blackburn Uni also approached us to undertake a large child sexual exploitation (CSE) project for the whole of Lancashire to find out the scale of the problem, and where children are being failed," Ronay said.

"Charlene was failed by everyone that should have kept her safe. The police, social services, they all let her down.

"We're trying to build a legacy and fight for real justice for her, so she can be remembered for something positive."