The mother of missing Bristol student Jack O’Sullivan says she is convinced that her son did not fall in the water – and believes police have been too fixated on this theory from day one.
Catherine O’Sullivan, 52, is clinging onto the belief that the 23-year-old is alive as she ‘has not been shown any evidence’ to suggest otherwise.
Jack, who moved back home to Bristol to complete a law conversion after graduating from the University of Exeter, vanished without trace after a house party in Hotwells on March 2.
revealed last week how the family’s private investigator discovered Jack fell down the stairs and hit his head before having an ‘altercation’ with another partygoer who joked about him having too much to drink.
This brief clash did not go further and Jack left the party just before 2am, with his last confirmed sighting in the area of Brunel Lock Road and Brunel Way at 3.15am.
He tried to call his friend who was still at the party at 3.24am but when she called back 10 minutes later, she heard ‘hello’ before the call cut off. Jack’s phone last pinged at 6.44am – and his mother has found further possible sightings.
From having to trawl through CCTV and carry out searches herself to being denied access to crucial phone and Apple AirTag data, Jack’s mother has become increasingly frustrated by Avon and Somerset Police’s investigation.
Catherine, 52, of Flax Bourton, Somerset, has claimed police had been ‘fixated’ on a theory that Jack had fallen into the water on the way home from a party.
On March 1, Bristol student Jack O’Sullivan met three friends for a normal night out, travelling by bus at 8.20pm from his village of Flax Bourton to a Wetherspoons in the city.
At 10.45pm, he texted his mother that they had moved to a house party in Hotwells. ‘All good, keys are safe,’ he wrote.
He texted his mother again at 1.52am telling her that he was getting an Uber and that he was safe.
During the party, Jack trips down the stairs and hits his head. A partygoer pokes fun at him and he shoves him. It doesn’t go further than this.
Jack left the party alone shortly before 3am on March 2 and has not been seen or heard from since.
The last confirmed sighting police have of Jack is at 3.13am as he walks onto a grassy area at the junction of Brunel Lock Way and Brunel Way, Bristol.
But his family reviewed more footage and believe they can see him heading back towards Bristol city centre at 3.25am.
Police also have footage of a person, who could be Jack, walking along the Bennett Way slip road at 3.38am.
Jack attempted to call a female friend who was still at the party at 3.24am.
When the friend called back 10 minutes later, Jack answered but only said ‘hello’ before the call cut off.
His phone remained active on Find My Friends until 6.44am. It last pinged on Granby Hill.
Jack is described as white, about 5ft 10ins (178cm) tall, of slim build and with short, brown hair.
But she said there has been no evidence to suggest this – and divers have found an array of items including football boots and a wedding ring – but not a single trace of her son.
And she says she has now lost total confidence in the police and been forced to take matters into her own hands – employing the services of a specialist dog team.
She said: ‘If he had gone into the water, people with experience have told us ‘you should have found him by now.’ Or found something at least – some evidence he was in the water. However there has been nothing.
‘You can see from the CCTV it is not possible he fell into the floating harbour. The footage is quite good. Beyond where he was seen there is a lock but the harbour master has told us if he had fallen in there, they would have found something.
‘They don’t have anything and police divers have been in on many occasions. They have found a wedding ring, glasses, football boots so it feels like they have worked through it in good detail – but they’ve found nothing that belongs to Jack.
‘The police seem to have based all searching on looking where his phone was last used. It does not mean to say he was with his phone.
‘There is a huge suggestion he was not with his phone – and they have got to look everywhere.’
‘We feel the police have not put any effort into anything that was not around their water theory. We firmly believe any opportunity to search should have been done.
‘Recently a carrier bag was found floating in the water so a team was sent to check it out.
‘Anything on land seems to be a lot harder and has to be ‘put for consideration.’
Catherine said she spends every waking moment hunting for Jack and has come up with her ‘most likely theory’ of what has happened.
She added: ‘My theory, although I must stress there isn’t any firm evidence to substantiate, is that he got into a car, knowing or unknowingly. A taxi, or maybe a car he thought was a taxi, has taken him out of the immediate centre – and dropped him somewhere.
‘It is really hard for me – this is the only thing I do. Every minute of the day when I am awake I am looking for Jack, trying to make sense of it all and keep the momentum going.
‘I am not prepared to accept Jack is not here until someone gives me evidence of where he is.
‘I know that might sounds crazy but the facts are not here. Where is he? Until I get some further information – for me Jack is somewhere and I just have to keep looking.’
In a wide-ranging interview, Catherine said they had lost trust in the police when they realised vital CCTV clues had been missed and not followed up.
She added: ‘At the very start we had no idea what we were dealing with or what to expect and were in the police’s hands. We would hang on every word they told us and listened to every bit of information.
‘We had no reason to doubt or mistrust anything. It was only as we were progressing and kept asking questions – it started to dawn on us this does not make sense.
‘I wanted to see CCTV footage and was given some to review myself at home. I found Jack walking along the top of a bridge that had been completely missed by the police.
‘Everything changed from that point onwards. The police seemed to close ranks and communication changed.
‘For us the fact it was missed was a huge mistake and so detrimental. It was over three months and the search lost such vital signs and opportunities to secure more CCTV.
‘It was then I started to doubt what I had been told. I hoped it raising it would see police increase efforts but it had the opposite effect. Things moved to email correspondence only and it really felt like they were closing ranks.’
Catherine has since made a formal complaint to the IPCC which remains ongoing.
She added: ‘We wanted help but that was not what we got when we needed it most.’
Despite the occasional troll, including one individual she has reported to police for demanding money in exchange for information, Catherine said the support from the community had been ‘overwhelming.’
She added: ‘The support has been unbelievable -people are contacting me personally and on the Facebook group daily.
‘It is overwhelming how generous people can be and that is so supportive. People have been offering to put together huge search teams.
‘It is hard to get the balance doing things safely – we are not trying to aggravate the police. But we also really need to do our searches and do anything we can get the message out.
‘I felt really strongly we should spread the message further than just Bristol.
‘We lost so much time and he could easily be further afield.’
Catherine said the family had already used a specialist dog search team they were waiting for more searches to be done as they retrace the spot where Jack was last seen to his family home six miles away. This included a search after an ‘area of interest’ was discovered on the A370.
She added: ‘We are in the hands of the search team when they can come next.
‘We are also still trying to pursue phone data so we can see ourselves. After the mess with the CCTV we can not leave anything to chance and want to make sure everything is looked at properly.
‘We are having to get a court order to get our hands on it and it is taking a while.
‘We will just keep going and look into every possible sighting. We know police aren’t taking a lot of them seriously so we have to follow up ourselves.
‘If there is anything significant our first port is to ring the police, but we just don’t feel assured they would respond the way we want them to.
‘I hope they are still taking it with the seriousness it deserves but we have doubts.’
Avon and Somerset Police say that since Jack’s disappearance, more than 20 different teams and departments have been involved in the investigation.
A spokesperson said more than 100 hours of CCTV have been reviewed, 200 hours of searches on the river and the surrounding banks, mounted police searches from Bristol city centre to Flax Bourton, 40 land searches, and 16 drone deployments.
Assistant Chief Constable Joanne Hall, of Avon and Somerset Police, said: ‘Our staff and officers remain committed to doing everything we can to find Jack and we do not underestimate what a distressing time this has been, and continues to be, for his family.
‘Throughout our investigation, we’ve been open-minded about what happened to Jack, considering different possible outcomes and scenarios following his last sighting.
‘We have sought reviews from independent agencies such as the National Crime Agency (NCA) and experts such as oceanographers and independent Police Search Advisors.
‘Sadly, despite the efforts carried out to date, we have been unable to find Jack and we fully appreciate the anguish this is having on his family and our thoughts remain with them during this hugely difficult time.’
The force said a dedicated officer is in regular contact with the family but said ‘in investigations of this nature, there tends to be periods which are more dynamic and fast-paced and others which are longer-running.’
A spokesperson added: ‘Where the investigation has progressed and activity becomes more prolonged, or there are fewer updates to give, the communication flow will not be to the same extent. However, whenever there are any significant updates, we will always make direct contact with them.’
In response to the rejection of the family’s request for phone data, ACC Joanne Hall added: ‘We have taken time to carefully consider the data request to see if there was any way we could agree to it in order for Jack’s family to get the answers they deserve following his disappearance.
‘However, on this occasion, we are restricted by law and have been unable to identify a clear legal basis which would allow for the disclosure to take place.’