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Irish family still on the search for missing London Irish man 41 years on from last correspondence

THE NEPHEW of an Irishman who has been missing now for more than 41 years has made a fresh plea for information on his uncle.

Kevin Williams was born on March 24th, 1946 in Taghmon, County Wexford, the fourth eldest in a family of five. His parents were Tommy and Mary Ellen Williams, who ran a bakery and grocery shop on the main street. He has three brothers, Dominic, Tom and Brian, and a sister, Ann. Tom passed away in August 2012, but his remaining siblings are still alive and living in Wexford.

After completing his secondary education, Kevin went to Dublin for a couple of years, before moving to London in early to mid-1966.

There, he applied to join the British Merchant Navy and served on the ‘SS Oriana’ on two trips around the world from August 1966 to January 1967.

After he came back from sea, Kevin returned to London and lived and worked in the city for the next eight years.

Kevin Williams pictured in London in October 1973 aged 27. (Picture: David Williams)

He maintained contact with his family throughout this time, visited home, and was visited in London by members of his family.

He last visited home for his mother’s funeral in early 1975.

Later that year, Kevin decided to go traveling again. He left London in September, made his way through Europe and The Middle East, before ultimately arriving in India, where he stayed for a number of months. He then traveled to Pakistan and began to make his way back to Europe by ship from Karachi.

He sent a letter to his family back home in Ireland from Sudan on September 1st 1976, when he said that he hoped to be in London ‘within six weeks’. This was to be the last correspondence between Kevin and his family.

Letter from Kevin Williams to his brother Tom. (Picture: David Williams)

Although his family made various efforts to locate Kevin in the years following his disappearance, they had no success.

Many years later, shortly after Kevin’s brother, Tom, died in August 2012, the family discovered that Kevin may still have been alive in the late 2000s.

His family has since been able to confirm that Kevin was indeed alive and living in London in the early to mid-2000s. Despite efforts to date, they have been unable to confirm where he is now, or whether, indeed, he is still alive. If he is, he will be 72 in March 2018.

They remain hopeful that Kevin is still alive and that they can make contact with him again.

Now, Kevin’s nephew, David is asking for anyone with any genuine information relating to his uncle to come forward.

He said: "For a long time, we all assumed that Kevin was dead. To find out he was still alive in the early 2000s, and is possibly still alive today, came as a major shock to the family, and especially to his surviving siblings. I know that they would all desperately like to hear from him. Even if he reached out to confirm that he was alive, well and at peace, that would be of considerable comfort."