Family of boy abducted in 1981 baffled' by police failure to reinvestigate murder after new findings

The family of a murdered schoolboy have criticised the police for a "baffling" failure to reinvestigate the case despite "significant" new evidence uncovered 42 years after he disappeared

- Josh Halliday

Vishal Mehrotra, eight, was abducted from west London in July 1981 and his remains were found in Rogate, West Sussex, seven months later. No one has ever been prosecuted for his murder.

A new BBC podcast series, called Vishal, has unearthed fresh material potentially linking Vishal's case to a paedophile ring operating in the area at that time.

Shaun Keep, a former Scotland Yard detective who helped convict the killers of Stephen Lawrence, described the new evidence as "a breakthrough" and "a real significant moment" in the inquiry.

The new material includes the discovery of a document, titled Vishal, written in 1983 by a convicted child sex offender about a boy he was abusing. The document was created a year after Vishal's remains were found in woodland less than five miles from where the mother of this offender lived, in a property where he is known to have abused children. It had been held by Sussex police since the 1990s but was only connected to Vishal's murder four years ago.

The offender who wrote the document was jailed for 16 years after being convicted of 17 offences in 1998, including 10 sexual abuse charges against young boys in his care.