Jack O’Sullivan’s mother says she waited six days for news after body found in search

In early January, police found a body in the search for missing student Jack O’Sullivan. The family waited six days before being informed the remains were not Jack’s

Jack O’Sullivan’s mother has spent “every day for a year” searching for her missing son, as a year has officially passed since his disappearance.

Catherine O’Sullivan has said she has focused only on getting answers since he vanished without a trace on 2nd March 2024.

Speaking on the first anniversary of Jack having gone missing, she revealed that she had been told by police that the remains of a man matching her son’s description had been found.

Jack, a 23-year-old student, disappeared on March 2nd 2024, after leaving a house party in Bristol.

He was last seen at 3.15am in the area of Brunel Lock Road/Brunel Way.

After waiting a long, painful week for confirmation that thee body may belong to her son, she received a phone call that they were in fact not connected to Jack O’Sullivan.

Catherine said: “It was six days of utter torture while they tried to work out if it was Jack before it turned out it was obviously not.

“It was the worst six days so far. It was positioned and explained to us in such a way that we could not see how it could not be Jack.

“We were given a description and it fitted everything – height, age, range – that Jack fitted into but they said the could not be conclusive until DNA analysis. We found out after a few days that the process had not even started.

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“That was pretty grim. We were hanging on every hour of the day for an update – and two to three days in they hadn’t even started. I think the communication was pretty shocking.”

“The day they phoned us with the initial info, they said they wanted to check how we would like to be told. I was so distressed I could barely hold the phone, and just said tell us anyway you can.

“I then got an email to say we had agreed to a phone call for news of Jack. It was such a difficult and traumatic time, and to date, it is the worst six days so far. People asked me if it would be better if it was him or if I wanted closure. I said no – when I heard it was, I was totally relieved.”

This happened at the beginning of 2025, between Saturday 4th and Friday 10th January.

Despite the lack of new leads in the case, the family are working with private teams and investigators, in contact with the police, to understand what happened to her child.

Speaking on her feelings reaching a year since Jack’s vanishment, Catherine said: “For me, it is just another day – now every day for us is hell, and it won’t be any more significant from the first day he went missing.

“I don’t want to draw unnecessary attention or be out having vigils – I don’t want to do that.

“We think of Jack every day – so next Sunday is not a huge milestone for us. But it totally unbelievable that 12 months have gone by. It doesn’t feel real.

“It has been a whole year, and we have no idea what happened to him. We are still completely none the wiser. We get messages of hoaxes, ransoms, people telling me the have got him – but nothing has ever been proven.”

Catherine has revealed that she has to take every day as it comes, without planning too far ahead. She added: “It would be unforgivable to even think about stopping [the search].”

Avon and Somerset Police said: “We contacted Jack [O’Sullivans’] family on Saturday 4th January, to inform them that a body had been located at Stout Bay, in Wales.

“Detectives worked with colleagues at South Wales Police to fast-track the DNA process to identify the remains and provide answers to the family.

“We were able to provide an update to the family on Friday 10th January, in which we were able to confirm the remains were not Jack’s. During these six days, the Superintendent overseeing the investigation made contact with the family on several occasions to give what update we could.”

The police has also issued a renewed appeal in light of reaching the one-year mark, hoping to get some new information from the public.