Timeline: The Disappearance of Erin Plumtree
First posted 18 April 2010
Last updated 15 August 2012
Erin Plumtree has not been seen since the wee hours of Sunday 11 April following a raucous Saturday night out in Doncaster as part of her sister Anna-Marie's hen party. Despite the "hens" all leaving together and sharing three taxis to get to their budget hotel, nothing is definitively known about Erin's movements beyond their return at 01:37 – when other hotel guests complained about the party's noise.
Since then, her family and the authorities have been doing their best to follow her final movements and piece together clues from her life. All that has been revealed are more questions about the shop assistant.
Sunday 11 April
01:18 Bojangles nightclub
The hen party, including Erin, got into three taxis in the queue outside the nightclub. Erin, her sister and a friend got into a Danum Taxi Service car and requested to be taken to the Check Inn budget hotel.
01:33 Check Inn Hotel
The re-gathered hen party arrive in the hotel foyer.
01:37
The hotel front desk receive a noise complaint from guests staying in rooms above the foyer.
01:38
The hen party is encouraged to return to their own rooms.
01:39 CCTV Footage from Check Inn external security cameras
Erin and the party have been identified on cctv footage prior to their entry into the hotel foyer. Footage that coincides with the party disbanding shows a very similar figure exiting the hotel and walking in the direction of town. However, the image quality is poor and the hen party dispute this as everyone is convinced that Erin was among their number as they headed for the lifts.
02:57 CCTV Footage from Doncaster Racecourse
External cctv footage from the racecourse shows another figure that resembles Erin although the quality is too poor to be surely identified. This woman comes from the direction of town, comes up to the racecourse buildings, and then turns north towards the nearby school. She is carrying her shoes and switches between walking and jogging.
09:30 Check Inn
Erin has not appeared at breakfast and the hen party are concerned. Two of them, her sister and the same friend who shared a taxi with her, go to Erin's room.
09:34
The front desk receives another noise complaint, this time from the guests next to Erin's room and come to discuss the matter with Erin's sister and friend. Following discussion, the front desk first attempts to contact Erin by ringing her room. The phone is not answered. Erin's door is unlocked and the room is found to be empty. Signs suggest that her bed has not been slept in.
Wednesday 14 April
The police requested and were granted a search warrant for Erin's flat in Howden. The search found two disturbing items in a wardrobe: a gym bag holding a large sum of £10 notes and several bags of white powder, and an unidentified woman's torso. Erin's family deny all knowledge of these items and have always maintained that they were planted there by unspecified others, particularly once tests confirmed the torso was not Erin's. The money proved to be counterfeit and the powder was a mixture of cocaine cut with icing sugar and flour.
Friday 16 April
A woman answering to Erin's description was spotted as a passenger on the Hull-Amsterdam ferry. This was reported the following Monday. If the woman sighted was Erin, she used a false identity to book her ticket and board the ferry.
Monday 3 May
A dog walker finds an arm in a shallow grave on Howden Marsh. Police forensics identified this arm as belonging to the torso found in Erin's flat. The victim remains unidentified. Erin's family continue to deny any connection.