Levi Davis’s devastated family faces more frustrating delays in figuring out what happened to the X Factor star as bureaucracy thwarts Spanish police’s search for the missing Briton.
Spanish officials said there will be no port or sea searches for 25-year-old Levi in the foreseeable future as a judge investigating his disappearance is still awaiting a report from the Coast Guard.
It comes after his mother Julie Davis revealed police told her they now believe a man seen in trouble in the sea by crew on a cruise ship docking in Barcelona was likely her son who disappeared in October .
Ms Davis criticized the delay in receiving information about the cruise ship sighting, labeling Spanish police as ‘slow’.
Today she faced more frustration after it was confirmed that there is still no news on when or if an extensive search for her missing son will take place to see if a body or other evidence can be found that points to his whereabouts.
Former Bath rugby player Levi Davis, 25, went missing on October 29 after leaving a friend in Ibiza to take the ferry to Barcelona alone
Levi’s mother Julie Davis (pictured together) revealed that police told her they now believe a man who was seen in trouble in the sea by crew on a cruise ship docking in Barcelona hours after Levi was filmed walking into an Irish pub in left town, was probably her son
Levi Davis (pictured) is feared to have drowned off the coast of Barcelona after leaving a bar
A Spanish judge would have to authorize a search of the waters and other areas around the port of Barcelona.
Overnight sources at the Supreme Court of Catalonia confirmed: “The investigating judge is waiting for a report from the Coast Guard with information on everything that has been done.
“There is currently no request from the judge for any form of search. After receiving this notification, the next steps will be considered.’
Another well-placed source, explaining the role of the examining magistrate in the case, added: ‘When cases have been tried like this, the judge decides cases as and when requested.
“Once the judge receives the report and sees what work the local coast guard has done, he can decide whether to approve new procedures or not.”
The revelation means the ongoing investigation into Levi’s disappearance will almost certainly have progressed no further by the weekend, when he will be missing for six months.
Surveillance footage showed him leaving the Old Irish Pub near La Rambla in Barcelona around 10pm on October 29 after taking a boat from Ibiza with just 40 euros (£35) and no clean clothes.
Detectives have told Levi’s family that they have now discovered that his telephone signal was last picked up in the early hours of October 30 by a telephone mast at the far end of the harbor nearest the sea entrance.
It was previously thought that his mobile phone, which has not been used since his disappearance, was last pinged near Sants central station.
Julie said the Mossos d’Esquadra regional police had also told her they believed her son was likely the man four members of the cruise ship MSC Bellissima, which docked in Barcelona around the same time, had seen at sea with the same light on . colored top like Levi and screaming for help in English.
A life preserver was thrown at him and coastguards in Barcelona mobilized their helicopter named Helimer 203 and a ship named Salvamar Mintaka.
A boat operated by firefighters was also sent to the scene, along with police and Red Cross ships.
The search was supposed to have taken an entire day, but was called off after it was confirmed that no one was missing from the cruise ship and police confirmed that no one had been reported missing in port waters or in the sea off Barcelona.
Levi’s disappearance had not been reported to the police at the time, and his passport was not found near a cargo shipment at the port until days later.
CCTV footage shows Davis leaving an Irish bar in Barcelona on October 29
Catalan police launched a search at their own expense on Nov. 8 before receiving an official missing persons report from an Ibiza-based friend of Levi’s on Nov. 12.
Police detectives admitted they considered his disappearance in February “disturbing” as they confirmed the case had been placed in the hands of a specialist crime unit working in conjunction with the investigating judge.
A spokesperson for the Mossos d’Esquadra confirmed at the time that there had been a significant change in the way the probe was conducted, as he offered a more detailed understanding of why the shift had occurred.
He said: ‘This case was initially investigated by a group of officers at the police station where the disappearance was first reported in Barcelona.
“That is the general procedure in cases where there are no clear or very clear signs that a disappearance is related to a crime.
“Now this case is being led by a specialized investigative unit in Barcelona.
“With the information we have, it doesn’t appear that this person disappeared voluntarily and doesn’t want to be found.
“We are dealing with an adult male whose disappearance has no logical explanation and who we therefore treat as disturbing.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean he’s the victim of a crime and it’s important to clarify that the group now investigating this person’s disappearance is not a homicide squad or homicide squad, as that would mean there is a likelihood or certainty that he’s dead.
“What it is is a unit tasked with this case after the initial investigation by officers at the station where this person was reported missing.
‘It is now a higher level of research and more specialized research.’
Davis starred on Celebrity X Factor in 2019 alongside fellow rugby stars Ben Foden and Thom Evans in a singing group known as Try Star. He was also on E4’s Celebs Go Dating in 2020
The police revelation followed claims that Levi, whose 25th birthday was last month, was £100,000 in debt to Somali criminals and Levi said he had been blackmailed via a sex tape and his life was in danger in a chilling latest video he shot shortly before disappearing.
His mother wondered earlier this week why the information about the cruise ship’s staff didn’t come out until months later.
Ms Davis expressed her annoyance at the way the search was conducted in Spain, adding: ‘I don’t know what to believe anymore.
‘I know the Spanish police can be slow, but I can’t make sense of it.
“There are many answers to questions I need to know.
“It’s disheartening when you ask police questions and get very little feedback.”
Levi played premiership rugby union for Bath between 2017 and 2020 when he joined Ealing Trailfinders. A year later, he signed for Worthing Raiders.
The rugby player turned reality star made an appearance on X Factor: Celebrity in 2019 with fellow rugby players Ben Foden and Thom Evans as part of the group Try Star. In 2020, he appeared on the E4 dating series Celebs Go Virtual Dating, becoming the first rugby union player to come out as bisexual.