Missing Jack: National plea from mother living her ‘worst nightmare’ 

The mother of a missing man from Bristol has made a national plea for information on his whereabouts.

Jack O'Sullivan was last seen at 3.13am in the area of Brunel Lock Road and Brunel Way in Bristol on Saturday 2 March, making his way home from a house party.

Now, 151 days since his disappearance, Jack’s mum Catherine O’Sullivan has appeared on ITV’s This Morning. 

She shared the story of what happened the night he went missing. 

Catherine said Jack was "in two minds" about going to the party because they were relatively new friends, but she encouraged him to go.

She said he stayed in touch throughout the evening, as he always did. 

“He was in communication with me throughout some of the evening, Jack was very good at communicating. 

“We made our final arrangements when he said everything was fine, he did intend to stay out a bit later than he had planned and said he’d get a taxi. He told me to get to bed.” 

At 5.25am on Sunday 3 March, Catherine said she woke “with a start” to find Jack’s room untouched. 

“I had a sense that something was wrong. I just immediately had a bad feeling.”

Despite calls and texts, Catherine couldn’t get hold of him. However, she managed to trace his phone to an address close to the party so headed there with her husband Alan. 

Catherine said the whole situation was out of character, causing her to worry. 

“He’d never done that before. He would always come home and if he couldn’t get home he’d always get in touch with us.” 

Catherine and Alan called police at 7am that morning, but she said they were told to wait 12 hours. 

Catherine said: “We got to 11am and I was frantic so we went through the missing person report procedure, and police came out to take a statement.”

That night, Catherine said police called to say CCTV footage had been found that showed someone that they believed was Jack.

It showed him close to the river, which led to assumptions he’d fallen in. 

Catherine said: “85% of young men on a night out drinking, if they end up close to the river, they fall in. We were distraught as a family, we didn’t go to bed, we just sat in disbelief.”

However, she said they were left confused the next day when another police officer came by with a set of keys that had been found.

She said they told them not to conclude that Jack was in the water because they weren’t even 100% sure it was Jack in the CCTV images.

She said: “At that point we didn’t know what to think or what to do.”

What followed was more CCTV footage plotting Jack’s route that night, including shots of Jack heading back into town, but still no answers for his family. 

Catherine said: “We’re now at 151 days since Jack has been home. We are doing everything in our power to continue looking for him, trying to seek information.”

She also revealed the family has hired a private investigator to help with the search, and people have shown their support on social media too. 

“It’s unimaginable to be in this position, it’s like something from a film, it’s your worst nightmare. We just need to keep asking the question.”

Avon and Somerset Police said: “We kept an open mind throughout this investigation. Enquiries have been led by the evidence. 

“Every scenario relating to Jack has been carefully considered and we remain in weekly contact with the family to update them on the progress of our investigation.” 

Jack is white, 5ft 10ins tall, slim build with short, brown hair.

He was last seen wearing a quilted Barbour jacket over a beige woollen jumper, navy chinos and brown leather trainers with white soles.