Mum Julie Davis is fighting to learn the truth of what happened to her rugby ace and X-Factor star son Levi Davis, who disappeared when he ran out of money in Barcelona two years ago
For two agonising years, Julie Davis has woken each morning to find herself trapped in every mother’s worst nightmare of not knowing if her missing child is dead or alive. Levi Davis, 24, a rugby union star, vanished on October 29, 2022, leaving his mum in a horrific state of limbo.
Julie says: “It feels worse than a bereavement. When someone’s missing, you are constantly grieving. But I will never give up hope of finding Levi alive.” The last conversation she ever had with Levi plays over and over in Julie’s head. He had just arrived in Barcelona and had called to tell her he had run out of money and needed £30 for a hotel.
Julie had scolded him for failing to listen when she warned him not to go travelling without saving for the trip.The next time she contacted him, there was silence. And she has never heard from him since.
Julie says: “He phoned and said, ‘Mum, can you send £30?’ But I said, ‘Look, Levi, you know I’ve been supportingyou more than enough over the past number of months. You’ve got to learn to stand on your own two feet’.” She later sent a text asking if he had got the money for the hotel.
Julie says: “There was no reply.” Like the families of the 170,000 people who go missing in the UK each year, including 75,000 children, Julie, 53, of Solihull, West Mids, is fighting to get answers about what happened to her son.
While some missing person cases become high profile, many go largely unreported and The Mirror has launched its Missed campaign to help people like Julie shine a fresh light on their cases. Rugby star Levi, who played as a winger for Bath and appeared on The X Factor: Celebrity in 2019 as part of the group Try Star, with fellow players, Thom Evans and Ben Foden, was last seen on CCTV leaving The Old Irish Pub on La Rambla, at around 10pm.
Bar staff said he had only had one or two drinks. Levi had run out of money and was asking friends and family for £30 to get a hotel. The last known contact from him was after midnight, when he sent a WhatsApp to a friend.
Levi had gone travelling after a serious knee injury left him unable to play rugby. He had considered quitting the game for his other love, music. Mum-of-six Julie says: “Levi wanted to travel Europe because of his anterior cruciate ligament tear. He’d been in Ibiza for a couple of weeks to work on music, and he said he planned to stay at a hotel in Barcelona overnight before going to his next destination, which was left open. But he had run out of funding.”
The morning after Levi disappeared, passengers on a cruise ship close to Barcelona’s port reported seeing a man in the water. Julie says: “It was dark at the time and this person had a white T-shirt on, which we know Levi did.
“Whoever saw him in the water said he looked to have been dark-skinned and aged around 30.” Spanish police launched a search, but later called it off when no one from the boat was found to be missing. They concluded that Levi had drowned.But Julie says: “They left so many questions unanswered. They said his phone last pinged by an underground station near to the port.
“What was he doing there at half past six in the morning?” His passport was found a week later nearby in the cargo area of the port. His bank account has never been accessed.
Catalan Police told Julie all the questions she had raised with them would be published in their report. She says: “When it finally arrived last year, half of it was in Spanish and half in Catalan, so we had to get it translated – all 250 pages of it.” The police now say she needs to get a lawyer to submit further questions.
Julie says: “We’re now crowdfunding to find a solicitor. The cheapest one we’ve been quoted is £5k, and this is for preliminary work. As far as the UK police are concerned, we’ve just been totally forgotten.”
Levi, who had been open about his bisexuality, had been the victim of a “sextortion” plot long before his disappearance, but Julie fears the two things may be connected. According to Julie, Levi was raped and the attack was filmed, which led to him posting a video saying his life was in danger.
Julie says: “The blackmail video was a while before he went missing – around the time of X Factor. I think he innocently got drawn into something.” She found out about the blackmail from her eldest son, Nathan. She says: “Levi had confided in Nathan that he had been drug raped and photographs had been taken and he was being blackmailed.
“They told him, ‘We’ve got this on camera and we’re gonna do XYZ to your family if you don’t pay’.” Nathan also told Julie of another attack. She says: “Nathan said to me, ‘Mama I’ve got something to say and it’s not gonna sound very nice’. He said Levi found himself sort of chained to a chair with his feet in a bowl of water, attached to some kind of electricity.”
Levi had gone to live with foster parents aged seven, but he stayed close to his mum and siblings. Julie says: “Sometimes I look back and think, ‘was that the right thing to do?’ I just wanted to protect my child, but the poor boy didn’t know what was happening to him.
“Levi missed us so much. Aged eight, he made his way back from Aston in Birmingham all the way to Chelmsley Wood. He said he walked a lot of it and then got a taxi the rest just to be with his mum and brothers.”
Then, not long after settling happily into a home with foster mum Suzanne, he won a sports scholarship to Denstone College, an independent boarding school in Staffordshire, before moving to Bath for university, and playing for Bath Rugby Academy.Still tormented by Levi’s disappearance, Julie says the Spanish police have admitted they have no new leads.
Meanwhile, West Midlands Police say: “The investigation is being run by the Spanish authorities, and we are supporting it when required. Our thoughts remain with Levi’s family and we will continue to provide them with any updates from the Spanish authorities as their investigation continues.”
• You can help Julie raise money for a lawyer here.
• The Mirror is using its platform to launch Missed – a campaign to shine a light on underrepresented public-facing missing persons in the UK via a live interactive map, in collaboration with Missing People Charity. Because every missing person, no matter their background or circumstances, is someone’s loved one. And they are always Missed.
