Public appeals to Banksy for assistance with missing student investigation
By Gemma Gray, Fourth year, Politics and International Relations, and Tabby Glover, Third Year, Law
It has been over six months since Jack O’Sullivan, postgraduate law student, went missing in Hotwells. The police investigation continues, and members of the public are now calling on Bristolian street artist Banksy to help.
Jack O’Sullivan has been missing since Saturday 2nd March after attending a birthday party in Hotwells. The 23-year old was last confirmed to be seen at 03:17, close to Brunel Way, and the Avon & Somerset Police say his phone remained active on Find My Friends until 6:44 am.
Jack has not been seen or heard from since.
The Avon & Somerset Police issued a renewed appeal for information on Monday 2nd September, marking six months since Jack’s disappearance. They say searches are still ongoing, and that more than twenty different police teams and other agencies have been involved in the investigation.
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.’
Now, the Facebook group, ‘Find Jack’, set up by Jack’s family and friends and containing over 70,000 members, are raising the idea as to whether elusive graffiti artist Banksy, who is originally from Bristol, could help in the search for Jack.
One member posted, ‘Is there anybody that does graffiti in Bristol that can do a FINDJACK?’
In response one contributor said, ‘Could Banksy help…just a thought.’
Appealing to the artist’s public following, another replied, ‘For maximum publicity the biggest coup of all would be a banksy “FIND JACK” MURAL.’
In reply to this one member said, ‘Wow that’s a brilliant thought.’
The group have also been calling on other local celebrities such as Stephen Merchant and Russell Howard to help increase awareness and assist in the search for the missing student.
An appeal by the Facebook group encouraging users of the fitness tracking app Strava to look over their app data, which may provide additional valuable information to help in the search for Jack, has also been made.
The O’Sullivan family filed a formal complaint against the Avon & Somerset Police and have since sought additional private search teams using surplus funds from the GoFundMe that raised £20,000 to be used as a reward for any information about Jack.
Catherine O’Sullivan, Jack’s mother, told BristolLive that they have been using specialist search dog teams also used by police to search areas around Bristol, and that these have recently revealed ‘renewed areas of interest.’
Catherine also told the BBC: ‘my aim on this earth at the moment is to find Jack.’
The GoFundMe page set up in an effort to support the ongoing search can be found here:
If you see Jack, please call the police immediately on 999 and give the reference 5224055172 to the call handler.
If you have any other information about his whereabouts, or have some footage which could aid the investigation, please call the police on 101, or contact them through the website at www.avonandsomerset.police.uk. Alternatively, you can email: findjack23@gmail.com.