Trail of clues in mystery of missing Jack O'Sullivan as student's mum issues new appeal

A mum has issued a new plea to solve the mystery surrounding her missing son after he vanished on a night out.

Jack O’Sullivan, 23, disappeared after a student party in the Hotwells area of Bristol in the early hours of Saturday March 2. His friends and loved ones have put up posters of him around Bristol, and a Facebook group named 'Find Jack' now has over 60,000 members.

But six months on, his family - who previously made a formal complaint about the police's attempts to find him - have blasted the investigation and said they had ''lost all faith'' in Avon and Somerset Police's investigation. His mum Catherine, her husband Alan and his 28-year-old brother Ben all believe that his iPhone and AirTag could hold vital information into what happened to their beloved Jack. Catherine has also said that she believes errors were made in early searches, and crucial CCTV footage was initially missed.

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Final texts and phone calls

Jack last texted his mum at the house party at 1.52am on the morning of his disappearance, when he told her he was safe and was going to get a taxi home. He eventually left the party around an hour later - but there is no record of him ever getting a taxi, with hundreds of drivers having been interviewed in the aftermath. Jack did not go to the local taxi rank on the way back home but instead walked a route along the Cumberland Basin, near Bristol Docks, according to CCTV footage. The last proper contact with him came at 3.35am, when he answered the phone to a friend, though he could not be heard on the other end of the line.

CCTV footage

The last official sighting of Jack confirmed by police came at 3.13am, when he was walking under the Brunel Way flyover on Brunel Lock Road. But Catherine has been able to obtain additional footage showing a shadowy figure she believes to be her son walking along the Plimsoll Swing Bridge at 3.38am. However, police believe the time stamp on this footage is not correct.

His last location tracked on his phone

Jack had his mum added on his Find My Friends app, meaning his live location could be tracked in real time. At 5.25am, Catherine woke up and found Jack had not slept in his bed at the family home, prompting her to check his whereabouts. It placed him at a residential address in the Granby Hills area of Hotwells, a few minutes walk from the party.

She called the number repeatedly over the following hour, suggesting it is still switched on and working. She and Alan drove to the location to find a group of houses in front of an old electricity substation, and asked passers-by if they had seen him, as it was too early to knock on doors. Jack's phone continues sending its location until 5.40am, but does not leave his mobile network until 6.44 am. Catherine told the MailOnline: "We have gone back repeatedly as a family with our phones to that area and the location finder on our own phones shows the exact same spot. So Jack’s phone was surely there". The phone has never been found.

'Data spike' on his phone

According to his traced phone records, Jack's mobile recorded a large spike in data usage around 4.39am. It is equivalent to the amount used playing a nine-minute video - but it is not known what exactly his phone was being used for.

Jack's AirTag

Jack also had an AirTag on his keyring, a geotracking device often used to monitor and find missing items. But getting access to the data on it has ended up in months of wrangling between Catherine and the police, who she claims have contradicted themselves multiple times.

She says that initially Avon and Somerset Police told her that they would not be able to look at the data because of Apple privacy policies, before informing her that they had gained access but were left without any details because the battery is flat. However, Catherine says Jack demonstrated how the tag used the very night before he disappeared, suggesting there were no problems with the battery. Later, she said police changed their story to say that the AirTag had not been registered properly or was registered to his ex-girlfriend's phone - something she denies.

'No third party involvement'

Police say there is no evidence of any third party involvement in Jack's disappearance - but his family are refusing to rule it out. She has questioned why the last trace of him on CCTV footage came at around half three in the morning, but his phone did not switch off until more than three hours later. Catherine said: "The police are categorical that they feel it’s impossible for there to be a third party involvement. Well I don’t know how you can be so certain."