Fresh appeal for missing Jack O'Sullivan six months on from disappearance

The 23-year-old went missing in March

Author: Grace O'HarePublished 2nd Sep 2024

The family of a young man from Bristol who's been missing for exactly six months today (2 September), say they've taken to carrying out their own searches to find him.

23-year-old Jack O'Sullivan vanished on the 2nd of March after leaving a house party in the Hotwells area - to date not a single clue has been found to suggest what might have happened.

Speaking to Greatest Hits Radio to mark six months since his disappearance, Catherine O'Sullivan is pleading to residents to come forward if they know anything.

She says she is not prepared to give up the search, and believes someone has answers.

Avon and Somerset Police have also issued a fresh appeal for information.

Assistant Chief Constable Jo Hall recently sat down with us for an interview - she says the investigation into his disappearance is currently under review and defended their efforts so far.

It comes as in June, Jack's parents lodged a formal complaint against Avon and Somerset Police over its handling of his disappearance.

Following the complaint, the police made a voluntary referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, who recommended a local investigation be carried out.

The force say that since Jack's disappearance, more than 20 different teams and departments have been involved in the investigation.

Adding that they have been supported by other agencies and emergency services, such as the National Police Air Service, and RNLI.

Jack's story

On the night of 1st March Jack was at a party on Hotwell Road near the city's harbourside. He left in the early hours of Saturday 2nd March.

Shortly after leaving he is caught on CCTV trying to flag down a taxi, but it doesn't stop because it was already on another trip.

Following that we know he walks across the Junction Swing Bridge on Merchants Road and again tries to get a lift by the Chefs Table restaurant, but this time the car he flags is not a taxi.

He is then caught on CCTV again at 3:15am underneath the Plimsoll Swing Bridge near to the BW Cycling shop and for a long time that was the last confirmed sighting of him, the only other known information being that his phone continued receiving messages until 6:44am.

However, having been given access to CCTV footage in the area herself, in April Jack's mum Catherine spotted him twice more on camera that night, firstly walking across the Plimsoll Bridge back towards Hotwells a few minutes after 3:15am and then again at the Hotwells end of the bridge walking along Bennett Way, shortly after that.

Community support

Since Jack's disappearance people have come together from across Bristol and indeed the country, to offer what support they can.

A Facebook group called Find Jack has, at time of writing, over 59,000 members and features a constant stream of posts from people offering ideas on how Jack might be found.

A website has also been set up about Jack's case which you can access here, while for several months a £20,000 reward has been on the table for any information which leads to Jack, having been crowdfunded by a family friend.

Catherine O'Sullivan was hoping residents with doorbell cameras would find footage of Jack.

However, doorbell cameras can only store footage for a maximum of six months, meaning any potential sightings of Jack picked up by them will be wiped from their memory today, unless it is downloaded first.

Catherine said: "It's totally overwhelming to be truthful.

"You read messages of such kindness and generosity and people sending hope and prayers constantly, but it's very hard to read that.

"For us as a family it's very, very hard to go outside our house and know that there's a billboard with Jack's face on it. We appreciate it, we really, really do, but it's taking its toll."

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