Levi Davis: Missing rugby player may have drowned, Spanish police say

BATH, ENGLAND - AUGUST 14: Levi Davis of Bath Rugby poses for a portrait during the Bath Rugby squad photo call for the 2018-19 Gallagher Premiership Rugby season on August 14, 2018 in Bath, England. (Photo by Dan Mullan/Getty Images)

Missing rugby player Levi Davis could have drowned in Barcelona’s port, Spanish police are now saying. 

The Mossos d’Esquadra – Catalonia’s police force – told the BBC they are working on the theory that Davis fell into the sea and drowned. 

Footage shared by the force on Thursday (18 May) shows police onboard a boat searching Barcelona’s port and the Llobregat Delta. 

“We continue to investigate the disappearance of a man in Barcelona on October 29. We activate the Maritime Police and the Aquatic Unit to search the port of Barcelona and the Llobregat Delta. The case remains open,” the force tweeted. 

The 24-year-old bisexual rugby player and former Celebrity X Factor contestant went missing on 29 October 2022 during a visit to the north-eastern Spanish city. 

Davis was reportedly last seen at The Old Irish Pub in the city centre. 

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His mobile phone was last traced to the port and his passport was subsequently discovered there, but little information has otherwise surfaced.

The police force has previously said it received reports from those onboard a cruise ship, who said they saw a man matching Davis description in the water on the morning on 30 October. 

Rugby player Levi Davis runs with a rugby ball in his hands
The search to find rugby player Levi Davis remains ongoing. (Harry Trump/Getty Images)

The rugby player’s mother, Julie Davis, has criticised the speed and progress of the investigation. 

In November, the distraught mother spoke with Good Morning Britain, begging her son to come home. 

“Levi, please son, if you see this message please, please get in touch,” she said on the ITV breakfast show.

“I can’t begin to understand how you’re feeling, but just know that I do love you, and our family loves you, we just want you home.”

Davis, who played as a winger for Worthing Raiders in the National League 2 South, was the first professional rugby player to come out as LGBTQ+ when he announced he was bisexual in September 2020. 

In an interview with the Mail on Sunday at the time, the sport star spoke of overcoming “shame” around his sexuality and being “happy” he could be himself.

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