Mother of son reported missing in Bristol for weeks ‘feels extremely sorry’ for Jay Slater’s family

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The mother of a young man who went missing in Bristol has called for renewed attention to her son’s case amid Jay Slater’s disappearance.

Jack O’Sullivan, 23, was last seen more than 17 weeks ago after walking home from a night out with friends on March 2 in a case that mirrors that of to 19-year-old Mr Slater, who went missing in the early hours after partying in Tenerife.

Family and friends are trying to keep Mr O’Sullivan’s story in the public eye by launching their own website, fundraising and changing their Facebook profile pictures to his missing poster.

But as the days turn into long sleepless nights, said mother Catherine O’Sullivan The Independent: “You wonder what you have to do to keep Jack’s name out there. I just feel like why isn’t Jack as important as everyone else?

When asked about missing Mr Slater, she said: “I feel so sorry for any family going through what we have. I haven’t followed Jay Slater’s case, but I’ve seen the headlines.”

She added: “Jack is a very determined and strong young man. He likes to get to the bottom of things. If his brother was gone, he would move heaven and earth to do the same. So we owe it to Jack, as hard as it is.

“There are days when I can barely put one foot in front of the other, but what do we do? It depends on us. It feels very much just for us.”

The family have lodged a formal police complaint after claiming crucial CCTV evidence in their son’s disappearance was omitted.

Mrs O’Sullivan said: ‘The first day Jack wasn’t home I raised the alarm as quickly as I could.

“We opened a missing person file at lunchtime then got a call from a senior police officer to say they had CCTV of Jack near the water in the Hotwells area.

“They think he was at a party and he’s been there since 2.30am and he may have been drinking. Their opinion is that it was so close to the water that it must have fallen into it.

“It was so true, the way he told us on the phone. He just said, chances are you’ll never see him again.

“We were completely crushed by it. We didn’t sleep. We lay together on the sofa and tried to understand what we had just been told.”

She said it was only when she received more CCTV from the council that she reviewed it and saw her son in a different section at a different time.

Mrs O’Sullivan said: ‘He was completely and utterly missed. They didn’t find him on set for 12 weeks.

“I’ve been contacted by families all over the country in a similar situation – they say it mirrors ours. They say there’s 48 golden hours of securing evidence that you have to gather.”

Mr O’Sullivan’s brother even made a clone of his missing phone’s SIM card, which the family sent to be forensically examined by an expert at their own expense.

Police say they have spoken to hundreds of taxi drivers in the area where Mr O’Sullivan was last seen and launched specialist searches involving drones, sniffer dogs and dive teams.

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police said: “We continue to seek further guidance and support from national experts, including an oceanographer, and will follow any advice they give us.

“Unfortunately, despite our best efforts to date, we have not been able to locate Jack. We fully recognize the pain and anguish this has caused Jack’s family and our thoughts are very much with them. We are determined to do everything we can to find the answers they so desperately need. We will continue to keep them informed of any progress in our investigation.”

Ms O’Sullivan claimed she had not been given a family liaison officer since Jack disappeared and said police had reduced contact with her to a weekly email update.

The force said the complaint was being assessed and the family would be updated.

Mr O’Sullivan is white, approximately 5ft 10in, of slim build with short brown hair. He was last seen wearing a green/brown quilted Barbour jacket, a beige woolen jumper, navy blue chinos and brown shoes with white soles.

The public is urged to contact the family campaign with any information on [email protected], or police on 101 or 999 quoting reference 5224055172.