Family of missing Bristol man "convinced" of new CCTV sighting
Jack O'Sullivan has not been seen since leaving a house party in Hotwells nearly two months ago
The parents of a young man missing in Bristol for nearly two months say they are convinced they have spotted him on a new piece of CCTV footage.
Jack O'Sullivan, who was 22 but has since turned 23, has not been seen since leaving a house party in the Hotwells area in the early hours of Saturday 2 March.
The confirmed CCTV sightings to date have him walking away from the city centre across the Cumberland Basin in the broad direction of Bristol Airport, with the last confirmed sighting at 3:15am.
However, this latest sighting, which Avon and Somerset Police are yet to verify, shows a person walking along the Plimsoll Bridge back towards Hotwells.
"I believe this footage clearly shows Jack on top of the Plimsoll Bridge in Bristol, heading into the Hotwells area," his mum Catherine told Hits Radio.
"He comes into view and as soon as I saw it I had no doubt that it was Jack. It's the right movement, it's the right colouring, it's the right walk and it's the exact time (that we would expect to see him).
"It wasn't possible in my opinion for it not to be him."
The footage is filmed by a camera too far away to recognise the person by their face or clothing, but Catherine and Jack's father Alan are adamant that the way the person moves, plus the context of where they are and the time, very shortly after the last confirmed sighting mere metres away below the bridge, mean it must be him.
What is more, as the figure moves along the bridge several cars pass by, some very slowly as they pause at traffic lights on the bridge.
The family say the sighting is significant as it places Jack on top of the bridge for the first time and walking in the opposite direction to what has been assumed to date.
"It is quite unusual to see people, it's not a normal route for pedestrians so that's why I feel that somebody on their walking would stand out more," Catherine said.
The public comes together to help
News of this potential sighting comes as members of the public are due to meet under the bridge today (24 April) to help search for clues as to what has happened to Jack.
It has been organised by Katie Bailey, who is neither a close friend nor family member of Jack's, but simply wanted to help.
"On speaking with Jack’s parents, we feel it would be necessary to get a group of the public together to be able to do a search around the area where Jack last went missing," she said in a post on Facebook.
"Most of the CCTV in the area is either fake or not working.
"We would like to see if we could get as many people to meet down in the Cumberland basin area of Bristol on the 24th of April at 12pm to do a search around the area."
The police investigation
To date Jack's disappearance is considered that of a missing person, with no evidence to suggest any third party involvement.
Officers have been trawling through what CCTV there is of the area and divers have been searching the water both in the Cumberland Basin and River Avon, but so far without any success.
Hits Radio understands the potential sighting unearthed by Jack's parents has not yet been verified by Avon and Somerset Police.
If you would like to read more about Jack's disappearance, you can do so via this link.