Alex Trelinski
POLICE in Barcelona have suspended an investigation into missing former Bath rugby player and X Factor: Celebrity contestant Levi Davis, who was last seen on October 29, 2022, outside the Old Irish Pub in the city.
Three weeks later his passport was found in the port area, and neither his bank cards or mobile phone had been used since he vanished.
A court probe has not reached a conclusion, meaning that the Mossos d’Esquadra will only continue with their inquiries if new information appears.
Authorities have ruled out any criminality behind Levi’s disappearance after he travelled to the Catalan capital from Ibiza.
It’s believed that Levi, 24, could have drowned at the port where the last signal from his phone was ‘pinged’ by a mast in the early hours of October 30.
The Mossos d’Esquadra last March started looking into reports by cruise ship staff they saw a man in harbour waters shouting for help on October 30.
“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,” said Levi’s mother, Julie.
“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.
Police divers started combing Barcelona harbour and an area of wetlands in May to see if they could find Levi’s body, but were unsuccessful.
Levi Davis was a promising young rugby player, making his debut in 2019 in the first division with Bath.
The following year he became the first active English rugby union player to come out as bisexual, but soon after joining Bath, he decided to take part in ITV’s X Factor:Celebrity.
Being in the public eye affected Levi, who confessed in an interview that he suffered from ‘depression, anxiety and alcoholism’ after the show.
Last year Levi told his mother he was being blackmailed over compromising photos and the day before he disappeared, his Only Fans account- which was only activated in early October- posted a full nude photo of him.
Stories of sightings started surfacing after Levi vanished including an alleged eye witness saying that he had been spotted at Placa de Sant Agusti on November 14 and that he had ‘seemed lost and confused’.
That same eye witness also claimed to Julie that her son had been recognised the weekend prior (November 5-6) at Placa del Canonge Colom, in the same area of Barcelona.
In December, Levi’s family offered a €11,000 reward for any information that could help find him and they hired a team of private investigators called ‘Line of Inquiry’.
The firm’s boss, Gavin Burrows, told ITV that same month that Levi may have drowned at the port while another member of his team suggested to the La Vanguardia newspaper that Levi owed £100,000 to a Somalian mafia.
“He made the sudden decision to leave Ibiza, where he was staying with a friend, to go to Barcelona in a bid to flee from these criminals”, claimed the unnamed detective.
A close friend of Levi’s told one of the investigators that a text sent on December 15 had been opened and read.
The friend had written: ‘‘Please come home. I love you. And miss you xx”.
Beneath the messages was ‘read’, showing someone has seen the pleading texts.
Levi’s family broke ties with ‘Line of Inquiry’ in early March and issued a statement, part of which said: ‘Gang involvement is NOT being considered or investigated at this time as the police focus is on facts and concrete evidence including where he was last seen, telephone calls he made, apps he used and people he may have arranged to meet.”
Shortly afterwards it then emerged that drowning at the port of Barcelona was being seen as the main theory behind Levi’s disappearance with a year on, his family still unable to get closure over what happened.
