DAVID Spencer and Patrick Warren disappeared on Boxing Day, 1996.
The programme, In the Footsteps of Killers, now takes a forensic look at the baffling case of what has become known as the Milk Carton Kids.
Who were David Spencer and Patrick Warren?
Schoolboys David Spencer, 13, and Patrick “Paddy” Warren were out playing in Chelmsley Wood, Birmingham when they vanished.
Cops initially treated them as runaways, saying there was no evidence to suspect they had come to any harm.
The bodies of the pair – known as the Milk Carton Kids after police printed pleas for information on milk containers – have never been found.
What happened to them?
It is not known exactly what happened to them as the case remains unsolved.
The best friends had gone outside to play in the evening.
They said they intended to go and visit one of Patrick’s brothers.
Patrick left on his brand-new bicycle, which had been a Christmas present, while David was on foot.
The boys were last seen just after midnight by a petrol station worker who gave them a packet of biscuits.
Patrick's brand-new red Apollo bicycle was later found abandoned behind the petrol station near the bins.
BBC Crimewatch aired a special programme on the boys’ disappearance to mark the tenth anniversary but didn’t create any new leads.
Who were the main suspects?
In 2003, West Midlands Police announced that they had arrested a 37-year-old man in connection with the disappearances; he was later released on bail and has never been charged.
In 2006, the police announced they were "closer than ever" to solving the mystery of what happened but no one has ever been charged with their abduction.
Following a review of the case in 2006, convicted murderer and paedophile Brian Field was interviewed by cops in connection with the boys' disappearance.
Field denied any involvement in the boys’ disappearance and police said he was just one line of enquiry in their investigation.
Officers also dug up a field in nearby Old Damson Lane in a bid to find clues, but abandoned the search several weeks later after finding nothing.
Field was jailed for life in 2001 for the rape and murder of 14-year-old Surrey schoolboy Roy Tutill, killed in 1968.
Field was living in Solihull when he was stopped for drink-driving in 1999.
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