Michael Hewitt’s frantic family had sparked a global search when he “vanished without a trace” after leaving Leeds on June 20 to travel to the US via Barcelona for the World Cup
An England fan who vanished on his way to the World Cup in the US has been found safe and well in a pub – after giving a “salute” to a fellow Leeds United supporter. Michael Hewitt, 65, was said to have been “blissfully unaware” his frantic family had sparked a global search.
They raised the alarm after he left Leeds on June 20 intending to travel to the USA via Barcelona, but “vanished without trace” shortly after. However he was found in a boozer in Barcelona by an off-duty cop who spotted his Leeds shirt while on holiday.
Michael, known as Mick, and the policeman gave each other the “Leeds salute” – a clenched right fist against the heart – and he later recognised Mick when he saw a social media appeal and went to the police in Barcelona to report it.
Mick had lost his phone soon after arriving in the Spanish city and was “blissfully unaware” of the desperate appeals to find him, his brother Gary said. He added “Because he still had his wallet and passport he saw no reason to go to the Embassy or to let us know.”
Mick had last been seen in the early hours of June 21 in a Barcelona bar. He was thought to have been making a stop in Spain before flying out to Boston to watch England in the World Cup.
Gary added: “He’s just been pottering about in Barcelona. It turns out he was only going to fly to Boston if he got a ticket (for one of the matches) lined up, which he hasn’t.
“His life revolves around football, everything else is peripheral. When I said I could book him a flight, his response was ‘well the England match is on today’. He’s still expecting his rescue to be moved around the England match.”
Gary said he got a phone call on Wednesday morning from the British Consulate in Barcelona. He told the Athletic: “I really did think it would just be bad news. It was awful last night.
“My sister and I really did think the next call would be a request to identify him, which was sickening… And she says, ‘Hi, Gary, it’s Carolina (consulate employee), I have your brother on the phone. Would you like to speak with him?’.
“It was a feeling of a huge weight being lifted, just to hear his voice. When you’ve given up on hearing a voice again, and you hear it, the feeling is really hard to describe.
“It’s just such a wonderful thing. I wanted to hug him down the phone and strangle him at the same time. I said, ‘Mick, do you realise we’ve all been looking for you?’. ‘How do you mean? Who’s been looking for me?’.
“Half the world’. ‘Oh, you’re kidding me?’. ‘You’re all over the internet’. He doesn’t like a fuss and he doesn’t like publicity, so he’ll be mortified.”
Gary said while the past few days have been stressful for the family, it had been heartwarming reading messages from many well-wishers about his brother.
He added: “I told him: ‘When you get home, make yourself a cuppa and read through the messages on Facebook.’ Not many people get those messages about how much you mean to somebody.
“Over the last few days it’s been horrendous but lovely seeing the heartfelt stuff. Mick’s in the rare position of finding out what people truly think about him while he’s still alive.”