Police divers begin searching Barcelona port for missing X Factor star Levi Davis

Police divers today started searching the port of Barcelona for the missing X Factor star Levi Davis, who is feared to have drowned.

Divers are also searching the Llobregat Delta, one of Catalonia’s wetland zones near the Catalan capital.

The search for Levi, who vanished after arriving in Barcelona from Ibiza in October, comes weeks after his mother Julie Davis revealed police told her they now believe a man spotted in difficulties in the sea by crew on a cruise liner docking in Barcelona was likely to be her son.

There had been delays in the search for Levi due to red tape, but a spokesman for the police said Maritime Police and the Aquatic Unit are now searching the waters.

 A spokesman for the force added: ‘The search is being conducted by the Mossos’ Maritime Police and the Aquatic Unit. It’s an underwater search with the Maritime Police in the boats and the divers involved belonging to the Aquatic Unit.

‘The search is taking place because of the possibility this person could have fallen into the water, from information received following his disappearance, around the time he was last seen.

‘Civil Guard and Coastguards carried out an initial exhaustive search but found no sign of him.

‘The objective is to find any evidence that might support the theory of a possible accidental death by drowning.

‘The Llobregat Delta is in the southern part of Barcelona where the movement of the waters mean investigators think there could be something in that area.

‘The search began at 10am local time but I don’t have information at this stage about how long it will last. We are talking about an underwater search.’

Local reports say police are expected to conduct searches over several days.

Spanish officials indicated late last month around the sixth-month anniversary of Levi’s disappearance that no date had been scheduled for the port and sea searches.

They revealed an investigating judge was waiting for a report from coastguards before deciding when – and if – to authorise any new proceedings including the searches the rugby player’s family were pushing for.

Levi’s mum Julie revealed last month she had been told by Catalan police they now believed her son was likely to be the man four members of cruise liner MSC Bellissima had seen in the sea wearing the same light-coloured top as Levi and shouting for help in English. 

A lifebuoy was thrown to him and coastguards in Barcelona mobilised a helicopter  and a vessel. A boat operated by firefighters was also sent to the scene along with police and Red Cross vessels.

The  sighting came hours after Levi was filmed leaving an Irish pub in the city.

The Mossos d’Esquadra initially insisted Levi’s possible drowning was only ‘one line of inquiry’ and others hadn’t been ruled out.

His mum, Julie, questioned last month why the information about the port sighting was only coming out months later.

She added: ‘I don’t know what to believe anymore. I know the Spanish police can be slow but I can’t make head nor tail of it.

‘There’s lots of answers to questions that I need to know. It’s disheartening when you ask police questions and get very limited feedback.’

CCTV footage showed Levi, 24 when he vanished, leaving the Old Irish Pub near Barcelona’s La Rambla around 10pm on October 29 after taking a boat from Ibiza with just €40 (£35) and no change of clothes.

Detectives have told Levi’s family they have now discovered his phone signal was last picked up in the early hours of October 30 by a telephone mast at the far end of the port closest to the sea entrance.

It had previously been thought his mobile phone, which hasn’t been used since his disappearance, was last pinged close to the city’s main Sants railway station.

The search operation following the sighting by crew from the cruise ship is said to have lasted an entire day but was called off after it was confirmed no one was missing from the cruise liner and police confirmed no one had been reported missing in port waters or in the sea off Barcelona.

Levi’s disappearance had not been reported to police at the time and his passport was not found near a cargo shipment at the port until days later.

Catalan police launched a search off their own backs on November 8 before receiving an official missing persons’ report from an Ibiza-based friend of Levi’s on November 12.

Police investigators admitted they were treating Levi’s disappearance as ‘disturbing’ in February as they confirmed the case had been placed in the hands of a specialist crime unit which is working with the investigating judge.

A spokesman for the Mossos d’Esquadra confirmed at the time there had been a significant change in the way the probe was being conducted.

He said: ‘This case was initially investigated by a group of officers at the police station the disappearance was first reported to in Barcelona.

‘That’s the general procedure in cases where there are no obvious or very evident signs a disappearance is linked to a crime.

‘Now this case is being led by a specialist investigative unit based in Barcelona.

‘With the information at our disposal, it doesn’t appear that this person has gone missing voluntarily and doesn’t want to be found.

‘We’re dealing with an adult male whose disappearance doesn’t have a logical explanation and which we’re therefore treating as disturbing.

‘It doesn’t necessarily mean he’s been the victim of a crime and it’s important to clarify that the group that’s now investigating this person’s disappearance is not a murder squad or homicide unit because that would mean there is a probability or certainty he is dead.

‘What it is is a unit which has been tasked with this case following the initial investigation by officers at the station where this person was reported missing.

‘It’s a higher level of investigation now and a more specialist investigation.’

The police revelation followed claims Levi was £100,000 in debt to Somali criminals and Levi said he had been blackmailed over a sex tape and his life was in danger in a chilling last video he recorded shortly before vanishing.

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 performed 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 E4 dating series Celebs Go Virtual Dating and became the first rugby union player to come out as bisexual.