Missing Jack Sullivan’s mum cancelling Christmas as she ‘cannot take a look at his empty stocking’
Jack O’Sullivan vanished nine months ago after a night out in Bristol – his devastated family said they are not celebrating Christmas this year as the pain of him not being there is indescribable
The mum of missing student Jack O’Sullivan said she’s “cancelled Christmas ” as she can’t bear to look at his empty stocking.
Catherine O’Sullivan described a torturous year seeking answers about her 23-year-old son, who disappeared after last being seen in Bristol nine months ago. Despite extensive efforts and a widespread campaign, not a single clue has emerged.
Catherine expressed their determination to keep looking for Jack into 2025, choosing to spend Christmas far from home to escape the agony. She said: “It has no doubt been the worst nine months of our life.
“It does not get any better or easier and I think everything is heightened at Christmas for everybody.
“The last few weeks has been horrendous – and we are not celebrating Christmas at all this year. We are ignoring the fact that Christmas is happening at all.
“We will not be at home and will take ourselves far away.”
She added: “I think dealing with what we are, we’ve just blocked out as much as you can. It is so hard as Christmas is everywhere – and it should be – but I just find it so hard to cope with.
“We always had traditions with the kids since they were small. Despite being 22 and 28 the boys still had stockings last year. We would still always go to chapel Christmas eve.”
“Everything we did has been set in for a long time. But none of that is possible without Jack at the moment so we are going to do something completely different.
“We are going to take ourselves off with the dog – the three of us together – and try and get through it. That’s the way it feels. We just want to be on our own. We don’t want to spoil anyone else’s Christmas.”
Last month Catherine won a battle with the company EE to access data about her son’s missing phone. This prompted a new search programme involving metal detectorists looking for his phone and other clues.
The last big search was arranged during Storm Darragh with 20 volunteers coming from across the country but had to be aborted. A smaller number came last weekend (21 and 22 Dec) to finish off an area they started looking around in woodland close to his last sighting.
Catherine, 52, of Flax Bourton, Somerset, added: “To date every search has not provided anything at all, no items or anything.”
“We got EE phone data in the end but for more accuracy we needed radio frequence that was done at the time – rather than now.
“It shouldn’t differ greately – but would be much more accurate. Police won’t release to us – it has not made us blind but has hindered it a bit”.
“We don’t understand rationale from police for not sharing – it is not anyone’s data – it is just a survey.”
“I personally don’t think he is in the woods but what we have been advised to do by people analyse the data is not to rule it out.”
“It is not giving us a pinpoint but just saying this is an area that should be considered so we have passed it to the specialist search team.”
“There is no real plan after that. It is a challenge to get these searches organised – they are specialist and volunteers and it is dependent on people’s time and being tied together.”
Catherine explained the ordeal has weighed heavily on her family, but they remain determined: “You have points you think can we physically continue but the reality is we are going to keep doing the best we can with as much energy as we can. We are not going to give up finding out what happened to Jack until we know.”
The distressed mother refuses to speak of Jack in retrospect, insisting: “I hear a lot of references to Jack in the past tense. I am not prepared to do that. While we have no idea where he is we have got to keep looking. At least to get some answers. Until then it all just remains a mystery.”
The Facebook Group Find Jack has been providing a source of comfort with huge volumes of support from the local community and well-wishers from further afield.
Catherine added: “The public has been amazing trying to pursue things – but we are still as much in the dark as we were on the first night.
“We don’t have any evidence to suggest anything. But all the experts we’ve spoken to said if Jack was in the water we should have discovered him a long time ago.
“The fact we haven’t suggests he hasn’t gone into the water. My gut also tells me that. But I am his mum and perhaps I just want that to be the case.”
Catherine said there has been an alternative Facebook group set up called Finding Jack – discussions and theories, which she describes as “pretty harsh and grim.”
“People feel the need to express opinions. I know I don’t need to look at that but sadly I do,” she admitted.
“People contact me and ask for justification and challenging us on decisions. People forget I’m Jack’s mum. We have had ransom demands and trolls but you quickly realise they have no substance. But it is hard to ignore people saying ‘I’ve got your son, I know where he is.’
“This is never the world I imagined we’d be living in but everyday I am indebted to people for the support they give us.”
The last confirmed sighting of Jack was at 3.13am on Sunday March 2 as he walked onto a grass area at the junction of Brunel Lock Way and Brunel Way.
His family previously said they had ”lost all faith” in Avon and Somerset Police’s investigation and are continuing to search every day themselves.
A complaint to the IOPC remains ongoing.
Avon and Somerset Police say that since Jack’s disappearance, more than 20 different teams and departments have been involved in the investigation.
A spokesperson revealed that over 100 hours of CCTV have been scrutinised, along with 200 hours of river and bank searches, mounted police searches from Bristol city centre to Flax Bourton, 40 land searches, and 16 drone deployments.
Catherine urged anyone with information to email [email protected] or get in touch with the Missing People charity who will forward the information to the police.
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