Reward renewed and doubled to help solve murder of man found in Birmingham canal

The 48-year-old’s body was discovered in a canal near Masshouse Lane, Kings Norton on 15 February 2020 at 8.40am.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Darren, who lived locally, had suffered severe facial injuries.

***A reward of up to £20,000 is available to anyone providing information directly to Crimestoppers which leads to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for this murder***

It is known that Darren left home in Kings Norton at 7.30pm on Friday 14 February, wearing a blue coat and with a rucksack on his back. 

CCTV footage shows his last-known movements. Darren was seen walking along the canal close to Wharf Road Bridge, towards Shannon Tunnel at around 12.40am. This is the same morning that his body was discovered. 

“Our charity, which is independent of the police, is reaching out to anyone who has stayed silent but wants to do the right thing. We hope that by appealing for anonymous information and doubling the reward, we can get justice for Darren, whose life was so tragically cut short.

“Darren was a local man, who frequently went for walks along the canal network. We would like to get to the bottom of what happened on that fateful day.

“Crimestoppers is here to give people the courage to speak up. Since we began in the late 1980s, we have never revealed the identity of anyone who has contacted us. Protecting your identity is key to everything we do so we neither ask for or could even store any of your personal details such as your name or contact details.

“If you know who may have been involved in this murder and want to remain anonymous, contact our charity. You could be eligible for a reward of up to £20,000. Everyone who contacts Crimestoppers stays 100% anonymous. Always. We’ve kept this promise for over 30 years.

“When you call our charity’s Contact Centre on freephone 0800 555 111 or use our anonymous online form, no-one will know. It could be your information that makes all the difference.”

Please note: Computer IP addresses are never traced and no-one will ever know you contacted Crimestoppers. For telephone calls, there is no caller line display, no 1471 facility and calls have never been traced. The charity is completely independent of the police and guarantees that your personal identity will always be protected.

***The reward will only be payable for information passed directly to Crimestoppers and not to the police – a reward code must be asked for when calling the charity on 0800 555 111. If you contact Crimestoppers via the simple and secure anonymous online form, the 'keeping in contact’ facility must be used and a reward code must be requested. You must log back in 24 hours later to get the code. You will be asked to check with Crimestoppers two months later with the reward code to see if there has been a positive result. More details about the rewards process can be found here***