Mum of missing Jack O’Sullivan to appear on BBC’s Crimewatch

Jack O’Sullivan, 23, has been missing since Saturday, March 2

The mum of missing student Jack O’Sullivan will appear on BBC show Crimewatch next week. Catherine O’Sullivan, 52, recorded a segment for the BBC1 show which will be broadcast on Monday, October 8.

Jack O’Sullivan, 23, went missing after leaving a party on Saturday, March 2 and the last likely known sighting of the student was at 3.38am walking down the Bennett Way slip road in Hotwells, heading back towards the city centre. The last confirmed sighting of Jack was at 3.13am when he was walking through a car park onto a green area below the Plimsoll Swing Bridge by Cumberland Basin.

An update posted by Jayne Caple on Facebook, which was shared by the Find Jack account on X, formerly Twitter, said that Catherine’s segment will be broadcasted at 9.30am on Monday. The post added that a decision was made by the programme to not feature a reconstruction of the night Jack went missing, which it says was not the decision of the family.

Posting on Facebook, Jayne said: “Cath recorded a segment for Crimewatch yesterday which is due to be broadcast this Monday at 9.30am. BBC1. There is no reconstruction, that was their decision, not the family’s.”

The news of the upcoming Crimewatch appeal comes as an update on the phone data being held by EE was issued on September 30. The update confirmed that EE had reached out to the family of Jack, and whilst the outcome is not known, paperwork is being signed and an update is hoped within the next few days.

The post continued: “We know everyone is waiting for an EE update. The last of the paperwork is being signed, we are hoping to be able to let everyone know in the next 24/36 hours.

“Frustrating that we can’t say more yet, we have waited this long so we can live with another few days. Thank you again both for your support and your patience.”

Although the phone account belongs to Catherine, the Find Jack X account said that she is unable to access the information. Avon and Somerset Police confirmed that it had received a request for a copy of the phone data in August, but that due to laws it couldn’t share a copy of the data with the family.

Catherine said in September that she had lost confidence in the police to locate her son. She believed that Jack did not fall in the water and may have got into a car and dropped off somewhere, although there isn’t any firm evidence to support this.

Catherine has made a formal complaint to the IPCC which is currently ongoing. She said: “We wanted help but that was not what we got when we needed it most."

The family has used a specialist dog search team and are waiting for more searches to be done. It includes searching an “area of interest” discovered on the A370.

She added: "We are in the hands of the search team when they can come next. We are also still trying to pursue phone data so we can see ourselves. After the mess with the CCTV, we can not leave anything to chance and want to make sure everything is looked at properly.

"We will just keep going and look into every possible sighting. We know police aren't taking a lot of them seriously so we have to follow up ourselves.

"If there is anything significant our first port is to ring the police, but we just don't feel assured they would respond the way we want them to. I hope they are still taking it with the seriousness it deserves but we have doubts."

Assistant Chief Constable Joanne Hall said: “Our staff and officers remain committed to doing everything we can to find Jack and we do not underestimate what a distressing time this has been, and continues to be, for his family. Throughout our investigation, we’ve been open-minded about what happened to Jack, considering different possible outcomes and scenarios following his last sighting.

“We have sought reviews from independent agencies such as the National Crime Agency (NCA) and experts such as oceanographers and independent Police Search Advisors. Sadly, despite the efforts carried out to date, we have been unable to find Jack and we fully appreciate the anguish this is having on his family and our thoughts remain with them during this hugely difficult time.”

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