Revealed: true story behind missing woman found alive and well more than 50 years later

12 January 2025, 18:22

The shocking true story of a woman who went missing more than 50 years ago and ‘found’ alive and well last week has been revealed.

The family of Sheila Fox, who went missing in 1972, spoke out last week after police announced they had discovered her whereabouts.

Ms Fox had been missing for 52 years, and has been sought by police ever since she ran away just days after her 16th birthday.

But when West Midlands Police revealed they had found her alive and well last week, Ms Fox’s family reacted unexpectedly.

Ella Fox-Martens, whose grandfather is reportedly the missing woman's cousin, took to social media to express the family's surprise after West Midlands Police announced the discovery.

In a post on X, she wrote: "This is my grandfather’s cousin. Just unimaginable scenes in the family group chat at the minute."

The true story of what happened to Ms Fox is stranger than fiction, and has finally been revealed by MailOnline.

MailOnline has revealed that Sheila Fox had been living openly for decades, only 80 miles away from her family home.

The story of her disappearance began in March of 1972, when she ran away from her family home and disappeared without a trace.

While it is unclear why exactly she decided to run away, family members have suggested that she fell in love with an older man of which her parents disapproved - or that they might not have known about.

According to her cousin Kevin Fox, her family believes she had 'run off with the insurance man, the man from The Pru.'

'The man from the Pru', short for Prudential, refers to an insurance advertising slogan from the 70's.

She was quickly reported missing, and a photo of the teenage girl was circulated by the police to help find her.

But it would be many years until her family found out what happened to her.

Sheila was estranged from her family for close to a decade, during which she started a family of her own.

In the year after her disappearance, Sheila gave birth to her only son Robert. His birth certificate shows names his father as John Foster, a bartender from Enfield.

Sheila had also changed her surname to Foster, showing that she likely married Robert's father.

"She got back in touch with her family in the 1980s," Kevin, 75, who still lives in Coventry, told MailOnline. "But by then the whole family had moved to Canada."

Her family was told that Sheila was found, and she apparently tried to make contact herself. The only people no one thought to inform, however, was West Midlands Police.

Kevin said: "We all thought at the time that her parents would have informed the police that she'd been found, but who knows? Maybe they did and the message got lost in the records."

Sheila is living in Watford with her new husband Jack Thorpe.

She refused to comment about her disappearance, saying only: "It all happened a long time ago, I've moved on, it's all in the past. It's been a misunderstanding and I don't want to say any more."

Read more: Missing surfer in Australia believed to have died in shark attack, police say

Read more: Britain's big freeze: Upgraded amber weather warnings with 'heavy snow' forecast - as NHS urges public to stay indoors

Ms Fox-Martens also poked fun at the situation when responding to a poster who expressed amazement that the police force is "patting themselves on the back for releasing a photo of her 52 years later."

She responded that her missing family member has been "back for years", suggesting the announcement to be "a little late in the day."

The writer from Coventry said: "The most telling part being that she’d been back for years! "A bit late in the day,” as my great aunt put it…"

They kept an "open mind" over her whereabouts but were unable to trace her for decades.

Last week, the force issued a fresh appeal, after discovering a single photo of Sheila from around the time of her disappearance.

Within hours of it being released, members of the public got in touch with information leading to her.

Sheila was confirmed to be safe and well and living in another part of the country.

Detective Sergeant Jenna Shaw, from the Cold Case Investigation Team, said: "We're absolutely delighted to have found Sheila after more than five decades.

"We searched through every piece of evidence we could find and managed to locate a photo of Sheila.

"We are a small team of officers and I'd like to recognise the work of DC Shaun Reeve, who managed to resolve this case with help from the public.

"Every missing person has a story, and their families and friends deserve to know what happened to them and, hopefully, be reunited with them."