The parents of a young man who disappeared nearly two decades ago have vowed they will never give up hope he will return.
In October 2004, James Nutley was seen just metres away from his hotel in Tenby, Wales, where he was staying during a golf trip, but it was one of the last times he was ever seen.
Now, nearly 20 years on, after James's family were plunged into unimaginable horror, they still hold at hope they will see him again one day.
A spotlight has been shone on the missing persons case this week after the case, which is the longest missing persons case of anyone in Wales, was features on a recent podcast with Pandora Sykes.
James's mother Catherine appear on the show, and it's led to a lot of attentions, dad Jeff Nutley has revealed, Wales Online reports.
“We haven’t had a week like this in years, probably ever since James went missing,” he explained.
“We’ve had journalists in and out all week. We’re grateful for it.”
When asked why they were putting themselves through the pain all over again, Jeff remained adamant someone out there "knows something about it".
James was just 25-years-old when he travelled to Tenby to play in a competition.
After failing to turn up at the course the next morning, alarm bells were raised by his friends.
James had shown no signs at all of any mental health difficulties, he’d just been hired for his dream job as a demonstrator for Titleist and was travelling the length and breadth of the country working within a sport he adored.
His mum Catherine vividly recalled how he had ordered a delivery to come on the Monday when he was due to return home.
Dyfed-Powys Police released CCTV footage 18 months after the disappearance which showed James at the Prince of Wales pub around 11.40pm, before he was spotted again 17 minutes later outside the Atlantic Hotel, which was just matres from the Giltar Hotel where he was staying.
Six other people were spotted in the footage walking close to James, whose wallet and cards were found by police the following day.
Jeff added: "The police said at the time that they thought if he went in the water his body would either end up near Bude in Cornwall or near Llanelli, depending on the tide.
"Sure enough in the same week James went missing another man had taken his own life in the water and did wash up in Bude six weeks later.”
Throughout the years there have been many "nearly" sightings of their son, something which has been "torturing" for the.
“The police used to phone all the time. Every time they found a bone, a shoe," Jeff explained.
"Then something got published in the papers: ‘Bones found in Llanelli could belong to missing golfer James Nutley'. But no-one had told us before we saw the articles.”
After a cruel and bizarre false confession by local man Richard Fairbrass, who told police he had killed James and thrown him in the sea, Jeff said he was asked to attend Swansea prison to quiz Fairbrass face to face.
He said: “They weren’t getting anything out of him so they phoned and asked us to go to the prison and ask him: ‘Did you murder James?’ I said: ‘No’.
"I told Catherine: ‘There’s no way I’m doing that’.” Fairbrass was eventually proven not to have been involved and was jailed for perverting the course of justice."
Now, almost two decades on, the couple barely hear from the police but believe their boy is still about.
They still speak about Hames in the present as he's "not in the past" for them and there's "no evidence to suggest he's dead".
Jeff added: “We still go down to Tenby twice a year like we’ve done every year and we do the route we know he walked that night. The sea wall is high. He’d have had a hell of a job falling into the sea by accident. There was no evidence of him anywhere other than the wallet and cards.
“We go and put a bunch of flowers there and put a picture of James saying: ‘James Nutley went missing here in 2004’. We go to the Giltar and have a meal and chat to them. They’re wonderful people in the Giltar and Malcolm, the owner, has helped us a great deal over the years. In lockdown when we couldn’t get down there he put the flowers and the picture out for us.
“We’re very grateful to the people in Tenby and the press as well for keeping James going and reminding people about what happened. The last time we went to Tenby the barman in the Giltar told us when he’s around the pubs in the town he’s always listening out for James’ name.”
Catherine revealed on a recent trip to the area she spoke to two officers who had been with the force for nearly 10 years.
“All the police officers who dealt with the case are now retired," she said.
"So we’re grateful for anything that can bring it back into people’s consciousness.”
She spends hours scanning the National Crime Agency database for clues.
“I can’t stop,” she added. “One popped up the other night and I still don’t know if I want to pursue it. It was a decomposed foot in a shoe and the sock was Wilson, which James wore. I have been wondering, but it’s near Liverpool. I keep thinking: ‘Should I? Do I even want to know?’”
Recalling the horrendous 24 hours after James disappeared, Catherine said: “We travelled down in the car straight away on the Monday when we got the call James had gone missing. I was with my brother-in-law and Helen and it was just complete silence. We got to the police station and they went out with sniffer dogs. The dogs were picking up a scent but I think it was from James’ wetsuit which Helen was wearing.
“We stayed there for a week and walked everywhere trying to find him but nothing was happening. We had to come home the following weekend. It didn’t dawn on me he was a missing person as such until about four or five days later,” Jeff explained. “After five days I am panicking thinking: ‘James, where are you?’
“The following months were horrible - the worst period of our lives. I don’t know how we coped with that first month, it was utterly dreadful. We stayed in the house for a month and never went out other than in the garden. We just stayed in hoping for the phone to ring or for a knock on the door and for someone to say he’s been found.
“Then there’s the realisation that he might not be coming back and we’ve got to get on with things for Helen’s sake. We couldn’t lock ourselves away forever. Once we got back out again we’ve had amazing support. We still have a lot of support and people often talk about James. People have asked why we’ve never had a memorial service for James, but how can we if he’s not dead?
“We’re still looking to find him. We haven’t given up. Once we’ve got him, if he’s gone then we’ll have the memorial service at Caerwent Church. It’d be a lovely service.”
