The Shrewsbury father of a soldier who disappeared in the Alps has met with French officials this week to discuss his son’s case.
Richard Hartley, father of former Ellesmere College student Blake Hartley, and his wife Sue, travelled with Shrewsbury police liaison officer Derek Lainchbury on Monday for a three-day trip to meet a regional chief of police and procureur, a role similar to a judge.
Mr Hartley said French police had re-interviewed two people on the same trip when he went missing and told the Chronicle he was ‘pleased’ with how police were conducting the search.
Blake Hartley (pictured left), 25, from Shrewsbury, was a Sandhurst army cadet who went missing in Chamonix on August 8, 2004, after a night out with friends.
French police reopened their investigation into his death in January last year after bones found in the River L’Arve, 57 miles from where Mr Hartley went missing, were taken to Paris for testing. DNA analysis revealed them to be the remains of the missing soldier.
On Saturday, March 8 more than 200 mourners attended a funeral service at St Peter’s Church, Cound, to pay their respects to the soldier.
Speaking from Boneville, near Chamonix, Mr Hartley said yesterday: “The chief of police was going through files, explaining how the case has gone, explaining every detail.”
Mr Hartley said the procureur had wanted to check that he was happy with how the police had conducted the case.
“I am pleased with the way the meetings went,” he added. “The amount of documents showed how vast it’s been.”
Mr Hartley added that a coroner’s inquest would be conducted in the near future.