Dad of girl who went missing over 40 years ago will walk to Downing Street to hand back army medals in protest

Katrice Lee disappeared from a supermarket near a British military base in Paderborn, Germany, on November 28 in 1981. She went missing on her second birthday near the base where her father Richard Lee was based, together with her now Gosport-based mother Sharon and 49-year-old sister Natasha. She was out shopping with her mother and aunt Wendy at the Naafi store close to where her retired sergeant major father was stationed. 

Mr Lee, of Hartlepool, said he would be joined by other veterans when he travels to Downing Street on 31 May to return his medals. Mr Lee, a former warrant officer, served in the army for more than 30 years, including in the 15/19 Royal King's Hussars in the former West Germany.

He is planning to hand back his Northern Ireland general service medal and another medal awarded to him for 30 years of service and good conduct. He said other former soldiers from all over the UK had pledged to accompany him on his journey to Downing Street.

The family believe Katrice was taken and they were failed by the army, Royal Military Police and successive governments. Speaking of when his daughter went missing, Mr Lee said: ''We were on a lifeboat cut adrift, floundering with no one to guide us and hold our hand.''

He previously called for an independent inquiry, and for the search for Katrice to be handed to a civilian police force - which would have happened had the family been in Germany on holiday.

Mr Lee said in December: “This has always come under the jurisdiction of the Royal Military Police, who were out of their league from the start.”

In 2012, the family received an apology from the Royal Military Police for failings in the initial investigation and reopened an inquiry under the name, Operation Bute.

Then in 2017, the government agreed to review the case and an e-fit of a man seen putting a child in a car that had been created shortly after the youngster's disappearance was released.

A year later, more than 100 soldiers undertook an excavation of the Alme river, close to where Katrice disappeared, in the hope of finding answers. In 2019, a man was arrested in connection with her disappearance but was subsequently released without charge.

In 2022, he met then prime minister Boris Johnson but described it as a “publicity stunt” with Mr Lee saying “nothing came of it”.

Katrice's sister Natasha said: “My dad was prepared to give his life for Queen and Country, so those medals mean everything to him. But Katrice, and the truth about what happened to her, means more.”

A Ministry of Defence spokesperson: “Our sympathies are with Richard Lee and his family as they continue to search for answers. The Defence Serious Crime Command and Unit, which now holds primacy for the investigation, continues to welcome any additional information that could help to determine Katrice's whereabouts.”