Found Deceased John Hardy, 36. UK National missed his flight home, last contact was a distressed phone call to a family member, Benidorm 14 Dec 24.

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Do I have this right?

Hardy flies from Belfast, Ireland to Alicante, Spain on Saturday Dec 14th. It's about a 3 hour flight.

He then drives down to Benidorm, Spain (around 30 minute drive) where he is to meet a friend. (Was this a hire car, a friends car, his own car? Was he due to meet the friend on that day, or just during his trip sometime? Was it just for a catch up or something more?)

On this same day, he makes a "very distressing" phone call to family, the last known contact with them.

There's an unconfirmed sighting of him at a bar in Benidorm on Tuesday 17th December.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, there's a short video clip of him in an apartment with Russian sounding men. He appears intoxicated and says he's in Spain. It is not known when this is believed to have occurred. Police in Northern Ireland are said to be aware of the footage and are reportedly looking to speak to a criminal ‘from Newtownards but now living in Spain’. (Newtownards is about 25 minutes from Belfast. Is this the friend Hardy was going to visit? What type of criminal? Could Hardy be caught up in whatever this guy was involved in? FWIW you can legally be extradited from Spain to Ireland.)

He misses his flight home on Thursday 19th December. (Is home Belfast? Or Torrevieja, Spain? One article suggests he'd recently moved there)

Of note: He has 2 sons, likely to be young as the word "Daddy" was used by relatives - and he's 36. It appears to be out of character for him to disappear like this. There was a "very distressing" phone call, but no details given.

Do we know why he was going to Spain for 5 days? It's only a short flight, and could have just been a holiday, but has that been mentioned? Did he regularly fly to Spain, and to this airport? Does he have a job/business he had to get back to?

Do I have all that right?
 
HoneyBunOne said:
Do I have this right?
Click to expand...
Snipped by me for brevity.

Yes, I think you have it pretty much spot on. Perhaps the only very minor quibble is about the extradition from Spain to Ireland. No doubt you are correct about that, but extradition, if it were to happen, would be to the UK rather than to Ireland. As I say, very minor. A very useful summary / timeline.

The questions you ask are all very pertinent, but there's the rub: no-one on social media seems to be asking them! Perhaps people already know the answers. Perhaps, for some reason, people are very wary of asking questions. Perhaps I am too suspicious of everything.
 
Normal Norm said:
Snipped by me for brevity.

Yes, I think you have it pretty much spot on. Perhaps the only very minor quibble is about the extradition from Spain to Ireland. No doubt you are correct about that, but extradition, if it were to happen, would be to the UK rather than to Ireland. As I say, very minor. A very useful summary / timeline.

The questions you ask are all very pertinent, but there's the rub: no-one on social media seems to be asking them! Perhaps people already know the answers. Perhaps, for some reason, people are very wary of asking questions. Perhaps I am too suspicious of everything.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that Norm. I just quickly Googled whether extradition was possible, and the answer was essentially yes.

Some more questions are: Does he have a partner, and if so, are they in Belfast too? Where are kids based? With him in Belfast? With their mother (if separated)? If so, where does she live? If he has a partner, why does it seem to only be his sister in the media pleading for info? Could he have been involved in some sort of drug smuggling gone wrong? Aborting the mission when things went off the rails - a bit like Hannah Kobayashi? (Just to clarify, I'm not suggesting there were drugs involved in her case) Maybe, he too, will end up in Mexico! (Nah, that one doesn't seem plausible LOL) How many names does he have? Possibly John Hardy, John George, and his Facebook name of John Paul? It kind of sounds like he's collecting a set of The Beatles here. But where's Ringo?
 
HoneyBunOne said:
Do I have this right?

Hardy flies from Belfast, Ireland to Alicante, Spain on Saturday Dec 14th. It's about a 3 hour flight.

He then drives down to Benidorm, Spain (around 30 minute drive) where he is to meet a friend. (Was this a hire car, a friends car, his own car? Was he due to meet the friend on that day, or just during his trip sometime? Was it just for a catch up or something more?)

On this same day, he makes a "very distressing" phone call to family, the last known contact with them.

There's an unconfirmed sighting of him at a bar in Benidorm on Tuesday 17th December.

According to the Belfast Telegraph, there's a short video clip of him in an apartment with Russian sounding men. He appears intoxicated and says he's in Spain. It is not known when this is believed to have occurred. Police in Northern Ireland are said to be aware of the footage and are reportedly looking to speak to a criminal ‘from Newtownards but now living in Spain’. (Newtownards is about 25 minutes from Belfast. Is this the friend Hardy was going to visit? What type of criminal? Could Hardy be caught up in whatever this guy was involved in? FWIW you can legally be extradited from Spain to Ireland.)

He misses his flight home on Thursday 19th December. (Is home Belfast? Or Torrevieja, Spain? One article suggests he'd recently moved there)

Of note: He has 2 sons, likely to be young as the word "Daddy" was used by relatives - and he's 36. It appears to be out of character for him to disappear like this. There was a "very distressing" phone call, but no details given.

Do we know why he was going to Spain for 5 days? It's only a short flight, and could have just been a holiday, but has that been mentioned? Did he regularly fly to Spain, and to this airport? Does he have a job/business he had to get back to?

Do I have all that right?
Click to expand...
I wonder if the discerning phone call could be what was filmed in the video with the Russian men? If it was in fact, taken in Spain it seems he was answering a question regarding where he was. Which if my family member called me sounding intoxicated, I would be asking similar questions. What if that video was the actual phone call?

Just speciation of course.
 
www.dailymail.co.uk

Missing man's children beg for 'Santa to bring their daddy home'

The children of a missing father have pleaded for Santa 'to bring their daddy home' after he went missing whilst on a sunny break in Spain's Costa del Sol.
www.dailymail.co.uk www.dailymail.co.uk

The 37-year-old was at a friend's home in Alicante along Spain's Costa del Sol, before later leaving to meet up with other friends in nearby Benidorm.
 
This is the first article
A taxi passenger stopped in south Belfast with £30,000 worth of cannabis was acting as a courier to service his own personal addiction, a court heard today.
John George was arrested after police made the seizure in the Lisburn Road area on Wednesday.
The 35-year-old, of Annadale Drive in the city, appeared at Belfast Magistrates’ Court to face a charge of possessing Class B drugs with intent to supply.
 
It’s interesting, @StillDiggin . A cursory review of crime in the area was in order, as msn articles suggest JH was in the company of a known criminal in Spain who recently moved from the Belfast area, and leopards do not change their spots. Perhaps this criminal selected a new venue for their enterprise?

There are drugs, of course, vandalism, fights, etc. But I found it interesting that illegal security (provided to bars/restaurants) seems to be a real problem in the Belfast area, as it appears it is taken very seriously there. I’ve provided a couple of examples below, as a reference.

I’m wondering now if security-type operations also exist in the area of Spain where JH has gone missing from? How does JH make a living? He appears very fit from his FB, and there may be a boxing interest, suggested by tattoos FB photos. Maybe he was exploring the security industry in Spain? Jmo.

Re: the Russian-sounding men: imo, to a non-native speaker, it may be difficult to distinguish among Slavic languages.

Lots of loose threads in this case!

Links to articles about security issues in Belfast. I haven’t yet looked into the matter in Spain.

www.gov.uk

Three men prosecuted for working as illegal security in Newtownards

Christopher Butler pleaded guilty to five offences. Two men supplied as security by Butler were also prosecuted for working illegally.
www.gov.uk www.gov.uk

www.fsmatters.com

FSM MAGAZINE - Door supervisor who ignored SIA is fined

Fire & Security Matters (FSM), the independent voice for the fire, security and risk management sectors.
www.fsmatters.com www.fsmatters.com
 
Parsnip said:
I’m wondering now if security-type operations also exist in the area of Spain where JH has gone missing from? How does JH make a living? He appears very fit from his FB, and there may be a boxing interest, suggested by tattoos FB photos. Maybe he was exploring the security industry in Spain? Jmo.
Click to expand...
Snipped by me for focus.

This is an interesting idea, and one I hadn't thought of. I can imagine the security industry in Spain is many times bigger than that of Belfast, and all the more appealing. And I can imagine there are many operators who wouldn't play by the Marquess of Queensberry rules when it came to protecting their interests.

Lots of loose threads, indeed.
 
There has been footage posted by John's partner on Facebook of Spanish police searching for John today (Christmas Day). I cannot provide a link for this, but the footage appears to be taken in this location (link points to Google Earth). A Google search for "'THE LUCKY LION' Cabo De Palos, Alicante" will get you there, if the link doesn't work. The Lucky Lion is an Irish pub.
 
Normal Norm said:
There has been footage posted by John's partner on Facebook of Spanish police searching for John today (Christmas Day). I cannot provide a link for this, but the footage appears to be taken in this location (link points to Google Earth). A Google search for "'THE LUCKY LION' Cabo De Palos, Alicante" will get you there, if the link doesn't work. The Lucky Lion is an Irish pub.
Click to expand...
I do hope they find him, safely tucked away somewhere. He is obvs well-loved, and his family is desperate.
 
Normal Norm said:
There has been footage posted by John's partner on Facebook of Spanish police searching for John today (Christmas Day). I cannot provide a link for this, but the footage appears to be taken in this location (link points to Google Earth). A Google search for "'THE LUCKY LION' Cabo De Palos, Alicante" will get you there, if the link doesn't work. The Lucky Lion is an Irish pub.
Click to expand...
That's quite a specific location for them to be focused on; I wonder which piece of information has led them there.
 
HoneyBunOne said:
How many names does he have? Possibly John Hardy, John George, and his Facebook name of John Paul? It kind of sounds like he's collecting a set of The Beatles here. But where's Ringo?
Click to expand...
"John Paul" and "Seán Paul" are pretty common names for Irish men in their 40s and 30s following the visit of Pope John Paul II to Ireland in 1979. His sister's name is given with the surname of George so his full name may be "John Paul George". "Hardy" could be an alias or a different fathers/stepfather situation.
 
So it seems he does have a father and partner. Do you have a source for the partner @Normal Norm ? Has the sister been deemed the spokesperson for the family? The other loved ones seem to have been quiet until now. Maybe that's a good move though (again, the Hannah Kobayashi case comes to mind with too many voices in the media confusing things).
 
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