'My aim on this earth is to find my missing son'

In March of this year, Catherine O'Sullivan's son, Jack, went for a nighttime retired successful Bristol and ne'er came home.

In the weeks that followed, she near the structure airy on, conscionable successful lawsuit helium returned.

Six months on, that airy is off, but her days are present driven by an ongoing hunt for answers, fuelled by the family's content that constabulary person not done enough.

"I spell retired daily. My time is planned astir which absorption I’m going to look next, until I tally retired of areas I tin feasibly check," she says.

"We fundamentally ascent fences, leap into ditches... it gives maine the bid of caput that I cognize that area's covered.

"I'm Jack's mum, and my purpose connected this world astatine the infinitesimal is to find Jack."

Jack was 22 erstwhile helium went missing successful the aboriginal hours of Saturday 2 March.

He had been surviving astatine location with his parents portion studying a instrumentality conversion people successful Bristol, having graduated from Exeter University.

He had gone retired for drinks and past connected to a location enactment with radical from his course, which helium near soon earlier 03:00 GMT.

Catherine has antecedently described however she messaged him astir 01:00 to spot if helium was alright, arsenic helium was retired with radical helium did not cognize precise well, and to spot if helium wanted a assistance home.

He messaged backmost to accidental helium was good and was going to get a taxi.

But erstwhile she woke up conscionable aft 05:00 and realised helium was inactive not home, she "knew thing was wrong".

Since then, Jack's household person been experiencing what missing persons adept Charlie Hedges calls an "ambiguous loss".

"You cannot recognize what's happened. You can't bring immoderate benignant of closure to it," helium says.

"So you're near dangling, wondering, and the slightest happening that's said makes you think, 'Is that thing that we request to respond to? Could that find our lad oregon girl oregon a loved one?'.

"Tragic and dreadful arsenic it mightiness be, if you suffer idiosyncratic successful a fatal roadworthy mishap oregon they dice from immoderate different means, astatine slightest you cognize what has happened. Unfortunately, with a missing idiosyncratic case, you don't person that answer."

Since Jack went missing, the Facebook radical Find Jack has gained much than 57,000 members from each implicit the world.

It has a changeless watercourse of posts, pleas and theories astir his disappearance.

People person offered the household "really good, communal sense-approach ideas" to analyse Jack's disappearance, his mum says, and portion the nationalist enactment has been reassuring, immoderate of messages the household person received person been acold from it.

"I person had messages suggesting that Jack is being held and asking for ransom amounts for him," she says.

"People telling maine that atrocious things person happened to him and wherever I mightiness find him.

"But what would anybody bash successful my situation? I person to work them, arsenic atrocious arsenic I cognize it is, putting myself done hellhole astatine times, but I can’t disregard anything."

There's a broadside to Catherine, who is primitively from the Neath country successful southbound Wales, that is blessed that radical are taking their hunt for answers truthful seriously, but astatine the aforesaid clip it hurts her.

"I ne'er thought I'd beryllium seeing Jack connected a billboard successful [Bristol buying centre] Cabot Circus," she says.

For the family, beingness inactive feels stuck connected 2 March.

Catherine points to imaginable areas that could person been missed connected her ample OS representation covering the room table.

"We're nary further guardant with sightings oregon thing that would springiness america an denotation of which absorption Jack went, oregon wherever helium is now," she says.

"We're down to a once-a-week email interaction from constabulary only, but we're going nowhere. They’re not answering the questions."

In June, Jack's parents lodged a ceremonial ailment against Avon and Somerset Police implicit its handling of his disappearance.

Following the complaint, the constabulary made a voluntary referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which recommended a section probe beryllium carried out.

The household accidental mistakes were made aboriginal connected successful the hunt and that CCTV footage, placing him successful a antithetic determination astatine a antithetic time, was initially missed.

It was lone recovered by Catherine erstwhile she was allowed to presumption immoderate of it for herself.

In July Catherine besides got support from owners to hunt an energy sub-station connected Granby Hill that she says constabulary overlooked, contempt it being metres from his past known determination connected the Find My Friends app.

"We consciousness precise unsupported by the radical we deliberation should person done the most," she says.

Police accidental the determination was considered and recovered to beryllium inaccessible, and that CCTV was checked and did not amusement Jack.

Catherine says: "We inquire for accusation from them to assistance america with our searches, which they can’t provide, due to the fact that it’s an ongoing constabulary investigation... method accusation surrounding his telephone that we’re not allowed to spot for ourselves - adjacent though the telephone is registered to myself."

The accusation she refers to is the determination of the past awesome fixed disconnected by Jack's iPhone to the Find My Friends app astatine 06:44 connected the greeting helium went missing.

The family's privately hired investigators are acceptable to help, but the information they request is successful the hands of police, Catherine says.

"We’re conscionable asking for it due to the fact that we person precise small religion successful the constabulary getting it right.

"A fewer days ago, I met idiosyncratic who said, 'Well I bash person Ring [doorbell] footage. I unrecorded successful a thoroughfare disconnected Granby Hill wherever Jack’s telephone past pinged and cipher has ever asked to presumption it'."

The Assistant Chief Constable of Avon and Somerset Police, Joanne Hall, says the instrumentality prevents them from sharing the requested information.

After the household got entree to constricted CCTV from the country wherever Jack went missing, recorded connected that night, they were capable to spot that galore vehicles would person gone past him astatine that clip successful the morning.

Police antecedently said that "about 400 vehicles" would person passed underneath Jack successful the clip play of the past suspected sightings of him crossing a flyover.

"There are each sorts of lorries, trucks, an ambulance, mean cars... people," Catherine says, arsenic she insists that idiosyncratic retired determination knows thing astir wherever Jack went.

She admits the household "lead a precise antithetic existence". An "unimaginable" and "awful" one, successful fact.

"For me, there's a immense thrust of I indispensable support going. But immoderate days that's easier said than done," Catherine adds.

"Our sole absorption connected a regular ground is uncovering Jack. We support going due to the fact that we beryllium it to Jack."

Avon and Somerset Police accidental that since Jack's disappearance, much than 20 antithetic teams and departments person been progressive successful the investigation.

They person been supported by different agencies and exigency services, specified arsenic the occurrence and ambulance service, National Police Air Service and RNLI.

In the probe to date, determination person been much than 100 hours of CCTV reviewed, 200 hours of searches connected the stream and the surrounding banks, mounted constabulary searches from Bristol metropolis centre to Flax Bourton, 40 onshore searches and 16 drone deployments.

The unit says it has received astir 100 calls from the nationalist with imaginable sightings and 8 media appeals person been issued.

Ms Hall, who met with the household successful July to sermon their concerns, said: "Our unit and officers stay committed to doing everything we tin to find Jack and we bash not underestimate what a distressing clip this has been, and continues to be, for his family.

"When I look astatine missing persons investigations [in Avon and Somerset] implicit the past year, we've had astir 5,500.

"Missing radical are somebody's loved ones, they're somebody's family, and we don't adjacent the doorway connected that."

Further searches are planned pursuing accusation and proposal received from different instrumentality enforcement agencies.

Police accidental they volition update Jack’s household erstwhile their handling of the ailment is finalised, and are erstwhile again renewing their entreaty for immoderate witnesses from Saturday 2 March to travel forward.

For the household now, their archetypal archetypal time daze has been replaced by thing different.

A grim realisation that this isn’t a nightmare they volition aftermath up from, this is conscionable their atrocious caller reality.