Spanish police have officially initiated a search for Levi Davis, a rugby player and X-Factor participant, who vanished after leaving a bar in Barcelona 10 days ago.
The regional Mossos d’Esquadra force in Barcelona made the decision to begin the investigation on their own accord, 10 days after his last sighting in the Catalan capital.
Prior to this decision, authorities had faced mounting pressure to assign officers to the case, initially stating they needed official notification of his disappearance before taking action.
A spokeswoman for Mossos stated, “An investigation is now underway. It is an investigation we have chosen to launch ourselves on our own initiative because we have yet to receive any official notification of his disappearance through normal channels.”
“We cannot disclose details at this stage, but efforts to locate him and determine what may have happened are underway.”
“Once we receive the official missing persons’ report, we should have more information to aid in our task.”
On Monday, Spanish police revealed they had not yet initiated the search for Levi, who was last seen leaving the Old Irish Pub off Barcelona’s La Rambla around 10pm on October 29 after arriving from Ibiza earlier that day.
His friend Richard Squire from Ibiza said he left the island ‘abruptly’ without clothes or cash to take a boat to Barcelona.
A Mossos spokesman in Barcelona stated, “We are aware of the news of this man’s disappearance from press reports and social media, but are still awaiting official notification of his missing status.”
“It appears he was reported missing by his family in the UK, but that notification has not yet reached us. We cannot launch a formal investigation until it does, but are working on the assumption that it may reach us later today.”
“Investigators will then be tasked with looking into the circumstances and trying to determine whether it’s a voluntary disappearance or could be linked to a crime. That work will likely involve speaking to potential witnesses and possibly relatives.”
The reversal by Spanish police came after the pub where Levi was last seen sought to expedite the search by providing police with CCTV images of him leaving the venue.
The pub’s manager stated, “On Monday morning, without the investigation in Spain being initiated, we have provided local police with the CCTV recording of missing Levi Davis, last seen leaving the Old Irish Pub Barcelona alone at 10pm on October 29. We urge everyone who has seen Mr Davis to contact local authorities.”
“We hope that Levi will be home safe soon.”
Levi’s mother Julie, 51, revealed that she and her eldest son Nathan, 34, are scheduled to fly to Barcelona later this week to assist in the search.
She added, “We’re going to do everything we can to find him and bring him home so that he can get the help he needs. He knows that we love him and will be there for him.”
“Levi, who also appeared on E4’s Celebs Go Dating in 2020, was part of a singing group called Try Star on ITV’s X Factor alongside fellow rugby players Ben Foden and Thom Evans. The trio were eliminated during the show’s semi-finals in 2019 after a competitive sing-off against girl band V5.”
Miss Davis revealed that prior to going missing, her son had told her that he was considering quitting rugby to focus on his music. She added, “He said that he still loves the game but wasn’t sure if he had a future in it. Everything was up in the air for him, but I think he’d had enough of English rugby.”
Miss Davis also stated that he was contemplating retiring from rugby due to injury, adding, “Rugby has not been the best at looking after Levi, and he’s suffered a lot of racial prejudice… There was some very deep emotional stuff around relationships that I really can’t go into.”
“It seems as if everything just got too much and it’s led to Levi going missing.”
