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The parents of a hiker who went missing in Nepal almost a year ago are meeting a Foreign Office minister to try to find answers to his disappearance.
(. . .)
When the Kochs went to Nepal to search for their son they found out that local police were not even aware of their son's disappearance when they first got there.

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New Appeal for Missing Backpacker - by Jenni Silver

MORE than a year after their son Gareth went missing while backpacking, Gill and David Koch have launched a new appeal for information. Twenty-five-year-old Gareth, who worked at Cotswold Outdoor in South Cerney was trekking in Nepal when he disappeared in March 2004. Special badges with a picture of Gareth and website details were launched to mark a year since he was last seen.

His father, David Koch, speaking 13 months to the day after Gareth's disappearance, explained the new appeal was ongoing. He said: "We did the badge appeal and we had 1,000 badges made up how we wanted, a specific badge was made that would last a long time." David went on to say they had chosen badges because they were easy for people to pin on clothes or a backpack and carry around with them.

About 900 Gareth badges were sent out around the world. Many went to Nepal to the sister of a guide who helped Mr and Mrs Koch when they spent four weeks searching for their son last year. Gareth' parents now hope the badges will help jog the memories of fellow backpackers and help track down information about their son.

Gareth travelled to Nepal for a four-week trek in February 2004, he was last seen in Sagarmatha National Park on March 8 and was due to fly home two weeks later. The website set up by Mr and Mrs Koch to get more information on Gareth is www.garethkochlostinnepal.co.uk

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At Gorek Shep we first saw a poster of a missing person. It was for Gareth Koch. Gareth was sitting on a rock in a blue down jacket. He looked vulnerable. The poster was not sure of where he was last seen or even where he was going. It could have been me 30 years ago. I thought of my mother’s anguish when I did not communicate for 6 weeks while on my trek back then. She had no information and no idea where to begin. Things have not changed much today. Where do you start looking? Who do you ask? The poster left a mark on us both and solutions were discussed often on the return journey following the same path Gareth is presumed to have taken from Gorak Shep.

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Britischer Trekker vermisst !
Seit dem 08.03.2004 wird Gareth Koch vermisst.
Er wurde zuletzt von uns am Morgen dieses Tages in Chukhung / Khumbu gesehen.
Für weitere Informationen besuchen Sie die offizielle Vermisstenmeldung von MountEverest.net
oder die Homepage von Gareth's Eltern:
http://www.garethkochlostinnepal.co.uk/

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Family in New Appeal over Missing Backpacker. By Anna Farley, PA

The family of a missing student who have joined forces with the father of murdered nightclub hostess Lucie Blackman, are launching a new appeal to find him today.
Eddie Gibson was three weeks into a combined Asian and Pacific studies and international management course at Leeds University when he decided to leave and go travelling in Cambodia. Some fifteen days later, on October 24 last year, the 20-year-old sent his mother an email saying he was “really looking forward to coming home”.
This was the last time his family heard from him. When they went to the airport to meet him off a flight which left Bangkok, Thailand, on November 1, he never turned up.

The last reported sighting of him was in Phnom Penh, on October 23, by “Ami”, a Cambodian girl he had a holiday romance with. Despite extensive inquiries, and three trips to the Far East, the Gibson family have failed to trace Eddie.

They have now joined forces with Tim Blackman and hope to draw on the knowledge and experience he gained while searching for Lucie in Japan. The 21-year-old former flight attendant from Sevenoaks, Kent, was working at a nightclub in the Roppongi district of Tokyo when she vanished in July 2000. Her dismembered body was found in a cave in Miura, a remote and secluded fishing village outside Tokyo, in February 2001, following a seven-month search.

Last year Mr Blackman, 51, from the Isle of Wight, set up safetytext.com, a service to help find youngsters who go missing in the UK or abroad, and the Gibsons contacted him via the website.
Today, Eddie’s father, Mike, 59, mother, Jo, 52 and brother Elliot, 26, are due to appeal to backpackers and tourists who have visited the Far East to get in contact if they have any information about him. They are also due to launch a special hotline they have set up in Cambodia.
Mr Gibson said: “Eddie is a gregarious, fun-loving, bright kid. Whoever would have met him won’t forget him. “People are coming back from their gap years now, we just hope someone has seen him. “We just want to know that he’s safe and well. We hope for the best but we are realistic.”

Mr Blackman said: “When you’re in that situation, which I have been in, of course, there’s a sort of shock thing that operates. “They were looking for a second pair of eyes, to draw on my experience of trying to find Lucie. “They’re in a terrible situation, it’s very difficult when you’re in that situation to turn to anybody for help and advice. “I think they were very pleased to be able to pick up the phone.”

The Gibson family are urging anyone with information about Eddie to contact Sussex Police on 0845 607 0999.

Joji Obara, 52, has been charged with the abduction of Ms Blackman as well as rape resulting in death, and the disposal of her body. He denies any involvement in the killing.

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By David Hughes, PA

A British trekker was murdered on holiday in Nepal, an inquest heard today. Tim Prentice, 38, who was described as a “seasoned traveller”, was killed in a robbery and his body was dumped in a river.
The body of travel adviser Mr Prentice, from Montpelier, Bristol, was discovered in March 2000 in the Langtang district of Nepal, 50 miles north of the capital Kathmandu.

Four local men, Karki Tamang, Furpu Sangbo Tamang, Manja Tamang and Lakpa Sonam Tamang were convicted of murder and sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in January 2002.

Simon Prentice, Tim’s brother, told the inquest his brother had been to Nepal before. He said: “Tim was a seasoned traveller because of his job and had been to Nepal three or four times. “He left in February 2000 for a trekking holiday with a lady, but she had to leave Nepal before him.“ I understand he set off for a short trek to Kathmandu, but I don’t know if he was alone, with others or with a guide.”

The Bristol inquest heard Mr Prentice suffered head injuries and had a ligature round his neck when the body was discovered. He was identified using dental records. Pathologist Dr Hugh White found during post mortem tests that death was due to head injuries.

The inquest heard the four Nepalese murderers failed in an appeal to the Nepalese Supreme Court in 2004.
Coroner Paul Forrest summarised the Nepalese investigation that led to the four men being sentenced. He said: “Four men murdered Mr Prentice then flung his body into the river. They went on to confess in statements that the motive was money. They agreed between them and pushed him down the path to the river where he hit a sharp rock. Then they tied the body and threw it into the river. They shared the proceeds and said they killed him due to ’greed for money’.”

Recording a verdict of unlawful killing, Mr Forrest said: “I have considered the full transcript of the proceedings in Nepal where four persons were convicted and sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. “I am sure, beyond reasonable doubt, that this was an unlawful killing.”

Outside court, Mr Prentice’s friends and family paid tribute to him but criticised the Nepalese legal process. Mr Prentice’s friend Judith McIntyre, 37, said: “Tim was outgoing and very sociable. He was a gregarious person. “We think of him every day, especially if we are having a good time or if his favourite music comes on we think ’Tim would love this’.”
She said she had doubts whether the suspects had a fair trial in Nepal. “Somebody had gone missing in the same area a few months earlier,” she said. “I think the police felt under pressure to get someone. They my well have done it, but I don’t think they had a fair trial.”

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