The family of a British father who went missing on holiday in Benidorm are offering a £30,000 reward for information after his children made a desperate plea to Santa to ‘bring their daddy home’.
John Hardy was first reported missing after he failed to board his flight home last Wednesday, December 18.
The 37-year-old was at a friend’s home in Alicante along Spain‘s Costa del Sol, before later leaving to meet up with other friends in nearby Benidorm.
However, the Belfast-native has not been seen since, leaving his family and two young boys ‘worried sick’.
The family are also said to be concerned that police in Spain could be missing vital evidence as John’s disappearance is being treated as a missing person investigation.
Speaking to Belfast Live from Alicante on Saturday, John’s younger brother, Darren, described how the family has been ‘ripped to pieces’.
He said: ‘Christmas Eve and Day was spent searching fields and today we’re down at the beach and marina area. We’re searching from morning to night and there’s been no let up at all since we got over here this week.’
‘As a family, we will not stop until we find him but at the minute we’ve very little to go on. We’re praying for someone to come forward anonymously and give us a bit of information so that we can recover his body and get him home.
John Hardy was first reported missing after he failed to board his flight home on December 18
His worried family are now offering a £30,000 reward for information about his whereabouts
‘We know John is dead and not missing so we just need to get him back. There’s a £30,000 reward from family and friends for any information that leads us to him so we want somebody to come forward from any of his friends.’
Darren said they just ‘need this nightmare to end’ and said he family is doing ‘everything in our power to find him’.
The heartbroken brother continued: ‘Our mum has had two strokes and dad has had a heart attack but they are in their 50s and running around Spain looking for John. Mum is climbing mountains, crawling down caves and knocking doors in. We’re just devastated and heartbroken and John has two young kids at home who just want their daddy back.
‘This can all stop now and be over but it won’t until we get John back. We will fight every day and we have to move to Spain, we will move to Spain. But we will not be leaving Spain without John’s body.’
John’s sister, Courtney George, previously said that he would never even go two days without contacting her, but they have now not spoken in nine.
The pharmacy assistant, who had planned to welcome John for Christmas dinner, says ‘all his kids want for Christmas is for him to come home’.
Courtney, whose GoFundMe has more than £12,000 of donations, says she feels like ‘setting her tree on fire and running away from this nightmare’.
She added that her nephews have been finding the news very difficult to deal with, especially given John’s eldest son has seen ‘everything on social media’.
Having recently lost a separate family member, Courtney shared that her brother’s children are very ‘distressed’ by the disappearance of their father.
John’s family have shared how they have been ‘ripped to pieces’ following his disappearance
The 37-year-old was at a friend’s home in Alicante along Spain’s Costa del Sol before later leaving to meet up with other friends in nearby Benidorm (pictured)
‘They love their daddy. All they want for Christmas is their dad to come home’, Courtney said.
Describing her own difficulties in dealing with the worrying situation, Courtney added: ‘I haven’t eaten in five days and been physically sick because of it’.
The family’s GoFundMe page has also called on a search party to be set up to help locate Hardy as soon as possible.
It said: ‘It’s family time so nobody will be looking for our family when they want to spend it with their own.
‘It’s very urgent because places close and people go on holiday. We already know that we won’t have John for Christmas’, they said.
Mother-of-two Courtney also said they can’t believe the amazing support through the GoFundMe from both Belfast and further afield.
A spokesperson for the Police Service of Northern Ireland previously said: ‘The Police Service of Northern Ireland received a report on Wednesday, 18th December that a 37-year-old man from Belfast, holidaying in Spain, was believed to be missing.
‘Enquiries are ongoing in conjunction with our international policing partners’.