Could Banksy unlock mystery of missing student? Calls for elusive street artist to help find Jack O’Sullivan last seen six months ago
The elusive artist Banksy is facing calls to help out in the search for missing Bristol student Jack O’Sullivan – who vanished after a night out in the city six months ago.Jack, 23, was last seen at 3.15am on Saturday, March 2, in the Hotwells area of Bristol as he walked onto a grass area at the junction of Brunel Lock Way and Brunel Way.
Ever since his disappearance, police officers have analysed Text messages, CCTV footage, witness accounts and GPS data from Jack’s phone to try and find him, but have so far been unsuccessful.Now, members of the Facebook group ‘Find Jack’ are suggesting the famous street artist – who originally comes from Bristol – could potentially start a graffiti campaign or even create a special piece for Jack.
The group was set up by Jack’s friends and family and has over 60,000 members.
One member posted: ‘Is there anybody that does graffiti in Bristol that can do a FINDJACK?’
In response, another member said: ‘Could Banksy help* just a thought.’
A third added: ‘People always take notice more of a BANKSY – I’m wracking my brain daily with things that could be done to help as we all are.’
In reply to this idea, one person said: ‘Wow that’s a brilliant thought.’
As the search for Jack continues, Strava users are also being urged to check their app data to help in the manhunt.
Some believe that users of the exercise-logging app could reveal witnesses or other important information in the case.
Jack, white, around 5ft 10ins tall, of slim build, with short, brown hair, was on a night out with his friends when he went missing.
Hundreds of taxi drivers have been interviewed and thousands of hours of CCTV reviewed but Jack’s disappearance remains a mystery.
Jack was wearing a quilted green/brown Barbour jacket, a beige woolen jumper, navy chinos and brown leather trainers with white soles when he vanished in March.
His family previously made a formal complaint about a police force’s attempts to find him and said they had ‘lost all faith’ in Avon and Somerset Police’s investigation.
They say that errors were made in early searches and crucial CCTV footage was initially missed.
A GoFundMe fundraising page was set up by a family friend with the aim of raising money to generate new leads earlier this month.
But police continue to be baffled by the disappearance of Jack, despite the fact he had an Apple AirTag tracking device in his keyring.
His mother Catherine has contacted Apple directly to see if the company can help trace Jack, but due to built-in privacy measures, the tech giant does not have access to his AirTag’s location data.
Mrs O’Sullivan said: ‘We’re desperately trying to get hold of the phone data that [the police] tell us they’ve analysed. They tell us ‘we have already told you the findings’.
‘Well we would like to be certain of that, because they did the same with the CCTV — they said they were certain of their findings, and they totally missed Jack on it.’
Last week, Banksy saw one of his most iconic works, Girl with Balloon, stolen from a London gallery, with two men charged with burglary.
The work, with an estimated value of up to £250,000, was taken in a heist of Grove Gallery, Fitzrovia.
The piece was recovered by detectives and Larry Fraser, 47, and James Love, 53, were arrested after a police investigation.
It follows a number of Banksy paintings being stolen or vandalised over the last few months.
One mural – which depicts two elephants poking their head out of white windows – popped up in Chelsea in London last month but was defaced with grey stripes after a week.
Banksy’s rhino mural in Charlton was also destroyed with spray paint in August, while the artist’s lone wolf on a satellite dish in Peckham mysteriously disappeared.
Charlotte Stewart, managing director at MyArtBroker, pointed out that the collection follows the theme of animal activism which has appeared in pieces throughout Banksy’s career.
She told LADBible: ‘Banksy has been notorious for his works that involve animal welfare, such works as Barcode and Laugh Now show themes of animal activism.
‘It is a subject he hasn’t dealt with in recent years, but it seems an incongruous focus with the state of the world right now, its wars, and current politics.’
