Police investigating X Factor star and rugby player Levi Davis ' disappearance say they are not ruling anything out amid fears he may have drowned off the coast of Barcelona.
The 24-year-old was last seen in October 2022 when the former Bath player left the UK for Ibiza after suffering an injury.
He then suddenly left the friend he was staying with and took a boat from the party island to Barcelona without clothes or cash and has not been seen since.
Last night, the regional Catalan Mossos d’Esquadra force had told his mum they feared he had drowned hours after he was last seen in a nearby Irish pub nearly six months ago.
Julie Davis said in a statement his mobile last registered in the early hours of October 30 last year with a phone tower at the far end of the port closest to the sea entrance.
She said: “Extensive work has been done to track Levi's movements on the night of the October 29 and they [the police] are able to confirm that following his last reported sighting at the Hard Rock Café, Levi walked back down La Rambla and entered the commercial port.
“Reports of a man in the water by staff on a cruise ship entering the port at 6.30am on October 30 have been investigated. Four members of staff confirmed seeing a man in the water with specific details, including him asking for help in English and the colour of his clothing.
“'A life jacket was thrown from the ship and emergency Sea and Air rescue services searched the area but they were unable to find him.”
She added the family was hoping Port Police would authorise a search of the nearby waters.
During the investigation, Levi’s family hired a private investigator.
Four members of cruise liner MSC Bellissima, which docked in Barcelona around the same time, have also told investigators they saw an English-speaking man in difficulty and asking for help from the water.
A search for him was called off after it was discovered no one on the ship had been reported missing.
In their first comments since the new development emerged, Catalan police insisted Levi’s possible drowning was “only one line of inquiry” and said other lines of inquiry were still being worked on and hadn’t been ruled out.
A spokesman for the force said late last night: “The hypothesis he has drowned is one of the lines of inquiry.
“But other lines of inquiry remain open and haven’t been ruled out.
“We remain in contact with the missing man’s family and are keeping them informed about the evolution of the ongoing inquiry.”
Levi’s family have said they are hoping port police will authorise and carry out a further search of the waters and other inaccessible areas of the port.
But the Spanish press is reporting a Spanish judge will have to authorise any new search.
Details of the operation to locate a man in the water seen by the crew on cruise liner MSC Bellissima, around 5.30am that day, have also now emerged.
Coastguards in Barcelona mobilised their helicopter called Helimer 203 and a vessel called Salvamar Mintaka.
A boat operated by firefighters was also sent to the scene along with police and Red Cross vessels.
The search operation is said to have lasted an entire day but was called off after it was confirmed no one was missing from the cruise liner and police confirmed no one had been reported missing in port waters or in the sea off Barcelona.
Levi’s disappearance had not been reported to the police at the time and his passport was not found until days later.
Catalan police launched a search for the rugby player and former X-Factor contestant off their own backs on November 8 before receiving an official missing persons ’ report from an Ibiza-based friend on November 12.
Earlier this week a spokesman for the Mossos d’Esquadra, who have handed the case over to their specialist investigative unit, had said they had nothing new to say to the media.
