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The devastated Levi Davis family faces further frustrating delays in figuring out what happened to the X Factor star as Spanish cops’ search for the missing Briton is hampered by red tape.
Spanish officials said there would be no port or sea searches for Levy, 25, in the near future because the judge investigating his disappearance is still awaiting a report from the coast guard.
It comes after his mum, Julie Davis, revealed police told her they now believe a man seen in difficulties at sea by crew on a Barcelona cruise ship is likely to be her son, who disappeared in October.
Davies criticized the delay in receiving information about the sighting of the cruise ship and described the Spanish police as “slow”.
Today she was facing further frustration after confirming that there was no news about when and if a thorough search would be conducted for her missing son to see if a body or other clue could be found to indicate his whereabouts.
Former rugby player Levi Davis, 25, disappeared on October 29 after leaving his friend in Ibiza to take the ferry to Barcelona alone.
Levi’s mother Julie Davis (pictured together) has revealed that police have told her they now believe a man seen in difficulties at sea by crew on a Barcelona cruise ship hours after Levi was filmed leaving an Irish pub in the city could possibly be her son.
It is feared that Levi Davis (pictured) drowned off the coast of Barcelona after leaving a bar
A Spanish judge will have to authorize searches in the waters and other areas around the port of Barcelona.
Overnight, sources at the Supreme Court of Justice of Catalonia confirmed: ‘The investigating magistrate is awaiting the report of the Coast Guard, seeing everything that has been done.
There is no request from the judge for any kind of research at present. Once this report is received, next steps will be considered.
Explaining the examining judge’s role in the case, another well-placed source added: ‘When cases like this are heard, the judge decides things on demand.
Once the judge receives the report and sees the work the local coast guard has done, they will be able to decide whether or not they can approve new procedures.
The revelation means that the ongoing investigation into Levi’s disappearance will almost certainly not move forward by the end of the week when he will be missing for six months.
Television footage showed him leaving the Old Irish Pub near Barcelona’s La Rambla at around 10pm on October 29 after taking a boat from Ibiza for just 40 euros (£35) without a change of clothes.
Investigators have told Levy’s family that they have now discovered that his phone 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 entrance to the sea.
His mobile phone, which has not been used since his disappearance, was previously thought to have been last pinged near the city’s main railway station, Sants.
Jolie said Mossos d’Esquadra regional police also told her they believed her son was likely the man who was a four-man from the cruise ship MSC Bellissima, which docked in Barcelona around the same time, was seen at sea wearing a similar light-colored cape. Like Levi and shouting in English for help.
A lifebuoy was thrown to him and the Barcelona Coast Guard mobilized their helicopter, the Helimer 203, and a vessel, the Salvamar Mintaka.
A boat manned by firefighters was also dispatched to the scene along with police and Red Cross ships.
The search operation was said to have taken a full day but was called off after it was confirmed that no one was missing on the cruise ship and the police confirmed that no one had been reported missing in the port waters or in the sea off Barcelona.
The police were not informed of Levy’s disappearance at the time and his passport was not found near a cargo hold at the port until days later.
CCTV shows Davis leaving an Irish pub in Barcelona on October 29
Catalan police began a search of her back on 8 November before receiving an official missing persons report from Levy’s Ibiza-based friend on 12 November.
Police detectives admitted they were treating his disappearance as “disturbing” in February, when they confirmed that the case had been placed in the hands of a specialist crime unit working with a coroner.
A Mossos d’Esquadra spokesperson confirmed at the time that there had been a significant change in the way the investigation was being conducted, offering a more detailed look at why the shift had occurred.
He said: ‘This case was initially investigated by a group of officers at the police station and the disappearance was reported for the first time in Barcelona.
This is the general procedure in cases where there are no obvious or very obvious signs that the disappearance is related to a crime.
Now this case is being led by a specialized investigation unit based in Barcelona.
With the information we have, it does not appear that this person has disappeared voluntarily and does not want to be found.
We are dealing with an adult man whose disappearance has no logical explanation, and therefore we treat him as a nuisance.
This does not necessarily mean that he was the victim of a crime and it is important to clarify that the group now investigating this person’s disappearance is not a kill squad or a kill unit because this means that there is a possibility or certainty that he may have died.
What unit was assigned to this case after the initial investigation by the officers at the station where this person was reported missing.
“It’s a higher level of investigation now and a more specialized investigation.”
Davis starred in Celebrity X Factor in 2019 alongside fellow rugby stars Ben Foden and Tom Evans in a vocal group known as Try Star. He was also on E4’s Celebs Go Dating in 2020
The police revelations followed allegations that Levy, who had his 25th birthday last month, owed £100,000 to Somali criminals. Levy said he had been blackmailed over a sex tape and his life was in danger in a final video he recorded before shortly after his disappearance.
His mother earlier this week questioned why information about the cruise ship crew had surfaced only months later.
Expressing her exasperation at the way the research is being done in Spain, Ms Davis added: “I don’t know what to believe anymore.
I know the Spanish police can be slow but I just can’t help it.
There are a lot of answers to questions that I need to know.
“It’s frustrating when you ask police questions and get very limited feedback.”
Levy played premiership rugby union for Bath between 2017 and 2020, when he joined Ealing Trailfinders. A year later, he signed to the Worthing Raiders.
The rugby player turned reality star performed on X Factor: Celebrity in 2019 with fellow rugby players Ben Foden and Tom Evans as part of the group Try Star. In 2020, he appeared on the E4 dating series Celebs Go Virtual Dating and became the first rugby union player to come out as bisexual.