Ambrose 'Jay' Ball, a father from London, went missing in January 2015 after his car was involved in a road traffic collision. Despite an extensive police search, no trace of him was found. Three months later a body was found in the River Lea in Tottenham, London. A Facebook campaign, launched to encourage witnesses to come forward, received threats from people warning his family and friends to stop asking questions. Despite the threats, along with a report made at Colindalepolice station in north London, the Metropolitan Police have never followed these reports up. An inquest into Ball's death commenced in April 2015 and was adjourned, "on grounds a person may be charged with homicide and to allow police to continue their investigations", after police told the coroner Ball's death was, "unexplained". The inquest is due to resume on 24 August 2015.
Background
Ambrose Ball was a 30-year-old father of two children. He went out with a friend to The Foxpublic house in Green Lanes, Palmers Green in north London and was allegedly involved in a fight at the pub. His car was seen being driven along from the pub towards Tottenham. Shortly after 3am on Saturday 24 January 2015, a member of the public reported seeing Ball's BMW collide with a central reservation. The car lost one of its front wheels in the collision.
Disappearance and search
Following the roadtraffic collision, a driver was seen leaving the car by a witness. Ambrose Ball was not seen again by his family, friends or police. In February 2015, police conducted a fruitless, three-day marine and finger-tip search of the area, including the River Lea and Walthamstow Wetlands, looking for Ball. Air units, dog teams and ground officers took part in the search.
Body found
On 22 April 2015, a body was discovered in the River Lea and later recovered by police. The body was so badly decomposed that an initial post-mortem was inconclusive. Ball's aunt, Alexandria Harrison, claimed that a body was discovered by police the day after officers working on Ball's disappearance visited someone in prison.
Inquest (adjourned)
At the end of April 2015, the inquest into Ball's death began. The police asked the coroner, Andrew Walker, for an adjournment saying they could not rule out third-party involvement in Ball's "unexplained" death and they also needed time to perform CT scans and diatom analysis. The coroner agreed to adjourn the inquest until 24 August 2015 on the "grounds a person may be charged with homicide and to allow police to continue their investigations". The coroner assured Ball's concerned family saying, "I can assure you we are independent of the police in this matter". At the adjournment the coroner released Ambrose Ball's body to his family who had commissioned an independent autopsy. After the adjournment, Ball's mother Ruth Lovell said, "His body was dumped in that river, I am sure of that". At an inquest hearing in January 2016, an expert witness testified that the presence of diatoms made it most likely that Ball had drowned. Another witness testified that he had seen a man walking around dazed and "being ushered into another car" by two men. Ball's mother answered "Yes" when asked whether she believed he had been murdered at The Fox pub.
Ambrose Ball family campaign
The family launched a Facebook campaign appealing for witnesses to come forward. The appeal received threats from people warning Ball's family and other campaigners to stop asking questions about Ambrose Ball's death.
