THE father of a man killed in a suspected gang shooting in rural County Durham is asking farmers to come forward as he tries to locate the exact place his son's body was found.
The body of 23-year-old Mark Corley was found in a ditch at a farm near Bolam, near Darlington, in December 2000 after he had been missing for five months.
His father, Tony Corley, is still fighting, 20 years later, to keep the case in the public eye in a bid to finally catch his son's killer.
Mr Corley, originally from Lincolnshire, says he is still "traumatised" by the loss of his son and is appealing to County Durham farmers to contact him if it was their land Mark was found on.
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The 67-year-old, who is estranged from his other children and ex wife, said: "It still feels like yesterday. It has destroyed my life and my family. I will never get over it. I can't move on without closure."
The man, who says he is unable to access files on the case kept by Lincolnshire Police, hopes to trawl the field where Mark was found in a bid to find missing evidence, that may be buried, but does not know its exact location.
"People say to me, why don't you move on and peace? Because I need justice. If Mark is looking down, he will know I have done my best. I don't know any parent that could give up," the man added.
"Mark was quiet, not how people labelled him. He just got in with the wrong crowd.
"We fell out once because I warned him about his friend but he was easily led and that cost him his life. Some people are born evil.
"But he was intelligent, he wanted to get away and completely change his life."
Mark was shot in the head with a sawn-off shotgun and is believed to be victim of a gangland killing.
Although the man, who went missing in July 2000, lived Grantham in Lincolnshire, his body was found in a ditch on farmland south of Bolam near Darlington just off the B6275, in December the same year.
The gun still has not been found, and no-one has ever been convicted in connection with the death.
Mr Corley previously ran the Understand helpline for families of victims of murder or manslaughter, funded by the profits from his book More Questions Than Answers which tells of his search for justice.
He has more recently set up a group called 'The Mark Corley support talk UK for families and friends of those lost through murder', which can be found online.
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