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Remains found in Torquay identified as missing Paignton man after two-year search
Human remains found at a property on Mill Lane in Torquay have been linked to Richard Locker, who disappeared in January 2024. Police have informed his family, and the death is not being treated as suspicious, with a file being prepared for the coroner.
By Tertius News AI Desk3 distinct · 4 mastheads · 4 articlesVersion 2Coverage Published
Discovery on Mill Lane
Devon and Cornwall Police recovered human remains from a property on Mill Lane in Torquay on Friday, August 7. Emergency services attended the scene after suspected human remains were located, and the remains were recovered from the scene. The death is not being treated as suspicious, and a file is being prepared for the coroner, the force said.
In a statement, Devon and Cornwall Police said: "The body of a man was found at a property in Torquay on Friday 7 August. We were called to a property on Mill Lane, Torquay, after suspected human remains were located. Emergency services attended and recovered the remains from scene. Formal identification is yet to take place, but the family of a man reported missing in 2024 has been informed of this development. His death is not being treated as suspicious, and a file is being prepared for the coroner."
The force said it would not be releasing any identification publicly at this stage.
Missing man identified
The remains are believed to be those of Richard Locker, from Paignton in Devon, who was last seen on January 4, 2024, on a street in Torquay, four miles from his home. Police located his car parked on Mill Lane in Torquay the day after he disappeared, during searches. His stepdaughter, Nicola, confirmed in a social media post on Tuesday evening, September 1, that his remains had been found at a property on Mill Lane last month, more than two years after he vanished.
Family's long wait
In a post within the Finding Richard Locker Facebook group, Nicola wrote: "After two years, seven months and 27 days of wondering where you were... we finally know. We wanted you home, we wanted answers, and more than anything, we wanted another chance to hear your voice and tell you how much you are loved. But amongst all of the heartbreak, there is a tiny piece of peace in finally knowing where you are. You have never been forgotten, Rich. Not for one single day."
Richard departed his home in Paignton in his vehicle on January 4, 2024, and his car was discovered the next day on Mill Lane, Torquay. Initial searches did not locate him. The family said they never stopped looking for him and that the past two years had been filled with wondering and pain of not knowing whether he was safe.
How each outlet told it
A framing line is our reading of that outlet's own text — an interpretation, not a quotation and not a fact we assert. Check it against what the outlet published.
Framing: The headline emphasizes the discovery of the man's remains near his car two years after his disappearance. — somber and sympathetic
Facts Included:
Richard Locker, from Paignton in Devon, vanished on January 4, 2024.
His remains were found at a property on Mill Lane last month, more than two years after he vanished.
His car was located the next day in Mill Lane, Torquay, during police searches.
His stepdaughter Nicola confirmed in a social media post on Tuesday evening, September 1.
His stepdaughter said they never stopped looking for him and that the past two years had been filled with wondering and pain of not knowing.
Richard departed his home in Paignton in his vehicle on January 4, 2024.
The death is not being treated as suspicious, police confirmed.
A statement released by Devon and Cornwall Police read: 'Formal identification is yet to take place, but the family of a man reported missing in 2024 has been informed of this development.'
Framing: Emphasizes the discovery of the missing man's remains on the same street where his car was found, two years after his disappearance — measured and sympathetic
Facts Included:
Richard Locker vanished on January 4, 2024
Police found his car on Mill Lane in Torquay the next day
His remains were found at a property on Mill Lane last month
His stepdaughter Nicola confirmed the news in a social media post on Tuesday evening, September 1
Richard was from Paignton in Devon
He was last seen on a street in Torquay, four miles away
AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.
Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status is Contested when two claims on this page negate each other; otherwise it counts the distinct outlets we found asserting that specific claim — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.
Claim
Confidence
Status
ClaimHuman remains of a man were found in Torquay.