Search for missing Bristol man Jack O'Sullivan "really taking its toll" says mum
Catherine O'Sullivan is continuing to do all she can to find her son, more than nine months now since he vanished in Hotwells
As Christmas approaches the mother of a young Bristol man who's been missing for more than nine months says its getting harder to cope with his absence.
Jack O'Sullivan vanished after leaving a house party in the Hotwells area in the early hours of Saturday 2nd March. He was 22 at the time, but has since turned 23.
Despite a £20,000 reward for information that leads directly to him, so far there has not been a breakthrough in the search.
Speaking to Hits Radio Catherine O'Sullivan said: "We've passed nine months now and it really is taking its toll.
"We continue to get up and get going every day with the same intentions of getting an answer to where Jack is, but time is moving on and our lives aren't.
"It has taken a huge toll on us and for me it is my full time job, just to keep going."
WATCH: Our last video report on the search for Jack O'Sullivan
What happened in March?
On the evening of Friday 1st Jack went to a house party on Hotwell Road near the Bristol Harbourside.
Shortly after 3am on Saturday 2nd he leaves and is captured on CCTV trying to flag down a taxi on Hotwell Road, but it doesn't stop because it is already on another job.
Having walked across the Cumberland Basin along Merchants Road he is then caught on CCTV again trying to flag down another car near the Nova Scotia pub but again the vehicle doesn't stop. He then walks along Brunel Lock Road, past Noah's Seafood restaurant and for some time the last confirmed sighting of him was underneath the Plimsoll Swingbridge by the BW Cycling Shop.
However, some weeks later Catherine, trawling through CCTV footage herself, spotted a person she is convinced is him, walking along the bridge back towards Hotwells. The last sighting which Avon and Somerset (AS) Police agree is likely to be him, places Jack on the Bennett Way section of the flyover at 3:39am.
What happened after that point remains a mystery.
Potential sightings
Since that night there has not been a single confirmed sighting of Jack, but Catherine tells Hits Radio she receives hundreds of messages from people claiming either to have seen him, or to know where he is.
"It's really hard, but I try not to dismiss anything," she said.
"Sometimes they do sound too far away or not in the right areas, but we can't dismiss anything so we try to follow everything through, but with the help of the general public.
"People are tremendously kind but it does take its toll because you put yourself through a lot of anguish with the, 'what should we do? How can we approach this? Who can help us?' But it's just something we have to do (look into the alleged sightings).
The more plausible reports are passed onto detectives at AS Police who continue to investigate Jack's disappearance, but so far none have borne fruit.
A spokesperson for the police says they remain "open minded" about what could have happened to Jack.
"Since Jack disappeared, we’ve received more than 130 calls in our contact centre with information, as well as receiving weekly updates from the family's representatives," they said.
"Each report is carefully assessed and triaged by detectives from our investigation team. They consider the information provided, the evidential value and the relevance to the investigation. Wherever necessary they follow-up the report by contacting the informant and conducting further enquiries.
“On several occasions, we’ve received a single-call report where someone who looks like Jack has been seen elsewhere in the country. Officers will use a probability scale to make a proportionate judgement about the information provided based on the information and evidence available...
“We’re always grateful for the public's continued and ongoing support of this investigation.
"Our priority remains focussed on finding out what happened to Jack and giving his family the answers they desperately need.”
Physical searches continue
Ever since Jack's disappearance his family have been trying to get hold of location data from his phone, which might provide clues as to where he went.
The mobile has also not been found, but based on data taken from a replacement SIM card the family have managed to establish several areas of interest which they have not previously searched.*
Sadly a plan to do so last weekend (7-8th December) had to be cancelled because of Storm Darragh.
"We're trying to put that (search) in place as soon as we possibly can so that basically we don't leave a stone unturned," Catherine said.
Can you help?
If you have any information on what has happened to Jack, you can contact AS Police by calling 101 and quoting the reference number 5224055172.
You can also email Jack's family and their supporters via findjack23@gmail.com.
You can access a website dedicated to the search for Jack here.
*It is possible the areas of interest have already been searched by AS Police, but Catherine tells us officers will not say where they have and have not looked.