UK UK - Bristol & Surrounding Areas, multiple missing people reported after a night out, worrying trend.

[RobinCAL]

After the recent missing reporting of Sebastian Sailes, who went missing after leaving a pub in Chippenham, which is 30 minutes away from Bristol via car.
Please see below thread of his missing report:

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Found Deceased Thread 'UK - Sebastian Sailes, 21, last seen leaving the Black Horse Pub 11.30pm, Chippenham, 27 Feb 2025'

Mar 1, 2025

*** MISSING ***

Officers are continuing to urgently search for 21-year-old Sebastian, who is missing from his home in Notton.

Sebastian was last seen leaving the Black Horse Pub in Chippenham at about 11.30pm on Thursday night (27/02) and was captured on CCTV heading towards Lovers Walk.

He is described as white, around 5ft 10ins tall, slim build, with blonde/brown hair with a long fringe.

He was last seen wearing a grey jumper, blue jeans, a beige fur lined jacket and white Adidas trained with a Velcro strap across the top.

We have attached a CCTV image and Ring Doorbell image of...

• StillDiggin
• Replies: 18
• Forum: Located Persons Discussion

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I noticed a few missing reports of similar scenarios of a night out happening in Bristol or around. For Example:

Jack O'Sullivan - UK - UK - Jack O'Sullivan, 22, left friends after night out, last seen Brunel Lock Road/Brunel Way, Bristol at 3.15am, 2 Mar 2024

Luis Piovesana - UK - Luis Piovesana, 26, last seen 3am in Eastgate Retail Park, Bristol. Feb 28 25.

I know there is an argument for seemingly men when drunk, they do move towards the water for whatever reason, I just think there has been an influx recently in these cases.

I do wonder if there is a drug problem, in the case of Luis who was reporting to the police and his sister I believe, that he had been drugged.

 

[Thinker Matt]

I have also noticed this trend!

I wonder if it's a case of things being reported more or if there is something more sinister going on? I know there is a University in Bristol which one would imagine brings with it a bustling nightlife scene - this could explain drugs being a popular theme in these cases?

I think it's worth keeping an eye on for sure.

 

[dotr]

https://www.bristol.gov.uk/files/documents/1703-jsna-2021-22-substance-use-final-ac/file#:~:text=Drug%20Related%20Deaths,-Bristol%20deaths%20from&text=For%20the%20period%202021%2D23,Liverpool%20to%207.4%20in%20Nottingham.

Bath University test Bristol heroin for link with Devon deaths

Nitazenes is a synthetic opioid that can be between 50 to 500 times stronger than heroin.

www.bbc.com

 

[MadeleineMaxwell]

There was also a string of young men ending up in the docks/river in Bristol a little while ago. I would say though that Chippenham is a bit of a distance/journey from Bristol.

 

[dotr]

By Laura Churchill 13 JUN 2017

Some of the most tragic deaths on Bristol's waterways

Rivers, canals and other waterways have been the scenes of a series of tragedies in recent years

www.bristolpost.co.uk

'Deaths in waterways around the Bristol region have sparked calls for more to be and even rumours of something more criminal afoot.
The police have ruled out social media theories of a 'Bristol pusher' working around the city.'

New police statement on deaths of young men found in water

Police respond after social media comments that a serial killer has been pushing young men into the water

www.bristolpost.co.uk

''Police say the recent deaths of young men in water near Bristol’s city centre “appear to have been tragic accidents”.
They have responded to intense speculation on social media today that a serial killer has been deliberately pushing them into the city docks or the River Avon.''
2017

Fears grow that mysterious 'pusher' serial killer could be stalking the waterways of Bristol

Discovery of latest body sparks fears that someone is pushing men into the city’s waterways

www.independent.co.uk

'Fears are growing that a so-called “pusher” serial killer is shoving men into waterways in Bristol after four bodies were recovered from water in the city in four months.'

 

[RobinCAL]

Update on search for person who entered water at Cumberland Basin

There was a large-scale underwater search

www.bristolpost.co.uk

Ongoing situation - seems to be 'voluntarily entered the water' from the description but thought I'd place it here.

 

[MollyHarps]

any big city which has a large water source in the city centre is going to have deaths involving water imo.

Water & alcohol/drugs just do not mix.

For years Manchester had rumours of a canal pusher - but in reality most of these men who went missing either had mental health problems or were extremely intoxicated.

 

[Normal Norm]

I have just started a thread on Lee Horton, 36, who has very recently gone missing in Bristol:

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Found Deceased Thread 'UK - Lee Horton, 36, missing from Evesham (Worcs.), last seen in central Bristol, 11 Mar 2025'

Mar 13, 2025

Avon and Somerset Police are appealing for the public's help in finding Lee, 36.

He is missing from Evesham, Worcestershire, but the last confirmed sighting of him was in central Bristol at about 10.30am on Tuesday 11 March 2025.

His family haven't heard from him since Tuesday, when he said he’d catch a train home but failed to return.

Lee, has no known links to Bristol and this is out of character.

He's 5ft 11ins tall with short dark brown hair and a beard and a distinguishing birth mark on his right arm. He was wearing a blue jacket, dark-coloured jeans and had a...

• Normal Norm
• Replies: 62
• Forum: Located Persons Discussion

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I have to say that I do not think there is any connection at all between the men who have recently gone missing in the Bristol area (which seems to include Chippenham, some 20 miles away, and Caldicot, a similar distance by road over the Bristol Channel in Wales).

 

[RobinCAL]

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Thread 'UK- Covert police officers to be used to catch sexual predators in Bristol as offences soar, Jan. 2025'

Jan 26, 2025

https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2025-01-23/covert-police-officers-to-be-used-to-catch-sexual-predators-as-offences-soar

Jan 23 2025
“In the coming months we’ll be launching a proactive operation in the city centre," he told councillors.''

"We’ll be deploying officers, overtly and covertly, to try and identify predatory offenders who are exhibiting behaviours of concern, and then being able to intervene at an early point to deal with them accordingly", Supt Runacres added.

Last year, the number of rapes of women aged 16 and over rose by 23 per cent, from 423 in the...

• dotr

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[Odhar MagUidir]

any big city which has a large water source in the city centre is going to have deaths involving water imo.

Water & alcohol/drugs just do not mix.

For years Manchester had rumours of a canal pusher - but in reality most of these men who went missing either had mental health problems or were extremely intoxicated.

Not sure …..some had no water in their lungs ,so were dead before hitting the water .and it has been shown that the canals are shaped in such a way that falling in would leave you in water that could be stood up in near the edge . Not saying drugs and alcohol are not involved but there must be more to it surely ?

 

[johnlair]

I live just outside Bristol I do know Bristol has a bit of an epidemic with Ketamine... Especially with the youngsters ...its cheap and readily available.. was speaking to a 50 odd year old buisness man who runs his own restaurant he moved from a nice area I asked him why he moved here even he admitted he was partial to Ketamine and Bristol was the heart of its distribution... I'm nearly 50 now and dont mind admitting I tried it once in my early 20s ... All it did to me was make me feel like I was walking on a constant ramp it was bizzare....totally off balance ... Some other guys who took it again that night started freaking out seeing all kinds of crazy .... Now if someone took that willingly or was spiked maybe thought they were taking a line of cocaine which is another popular nightlife drug and in fact the line was Ketamine and then they tried to walk accross that little bridge or walkway pictured above ... No offence but they are going in.... Alcohol is bad enough I dont drink anymore but once on a work do I had had one too many and it took me an hour and a half to walk a 20 minute walk back home seemingly the pavement wasn't wide enough for just me I was zig zagging falling into the road it was terrible ... Again if you are walking around water with no guard like I was you are going in... If you think wow what a pretty night wm gonna check the reflection in the water 8/10 you are going in...
However saying that if there was ever anyone went in with malicious intent and drowned with no direct footage the first thing many UK police will think is got drunk fell in the river... Yeah personally I dont think many are suspicious alot of people et hammered on their nights out and the water is everywhere in Bristol just waiting for her next victim

 

[MelmothTheLost]

I know there is an argument for seemingly men when drunk, they do move towards the water for whatever reason, I just think there has been an influx recently in these cases.

This is a recognised phenomenon known as Men Missing On A Night Out and has been the subject of study in recent years.

https://pure.port.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/74350629/Missing_on_a_night_out_update_2019.pdf

 

[RobinCAL]

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UK Thread 'UK - Rehaan, 28, last seen in Bristol city centre at 1.05 am, Sunday 23 Nov 2025'

Nov 24, 2025

Avon and Somerset Police are appealing for help from the public to locate a missing man who was last seen in Bristol city centre.

Missing Rehaan was out with his friends in Bristol when he was last seen around 1.05am this morning (Sunday, November 23) near the Arnolfini.

The 28-year-old is described as being roughly 5ft 11ins tall, of muscular build and has short, dark hair, a dark beard and a moustache.

Rehaan was last seen wearing a black Levi's top, grey cargo trousers and a navy jumper.

He is from Llanelli in South Wales and also has links to Swansea.

Avon and...

• Normal Norm
• Replies: 3
• Forum: Missing Persons Discussion

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[ChatteringBirds]

Maybe they need to increase the CCTV coverage around the city. I don't know how much there is, and I know you can't cover the entire waterway, but maybe all of the paths used by pedestrians that get close enough to fall in, if there are areas not already covered. (I am an idealist about these things.)

How is this problem being addressed?

 

[Lucy6226]

I think a lack of lighting plays a factor in some of these cases too. The move to LED lights leaves a lot of shadows, harder to see where you are going and harder for people to see you on footpaths. MOO

 

[MelmothTheLost]

Maybe they need to increase the CCTV coverage around the city. I don't know how much there is, and I know you can't cover the entire waterway, but maybe all of the paths used by pedestrians that get close enough to fall in, if there are areas not already covered. (I am an idealist about these things.)

How is this problem being addressed?

The UK is already one of the most surveilled countries in the world. There's a lot of disquiet in some circles about the implications of that for personal privacy so significantly increasing CCTV systems even further in public places would probably not go down well.

 

[infohuntah]

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UK Thread 'UK - Rehaan, 28, last seen in Bristol city centre at 1.05 am, Sunday 23 Nov 2025'

Nov 24, 2025

Avon and Somerset Police are appealing for help from the public to locate a missing man who was last seen in Bristol city centre.

Missing Rehaan was out with his friends in Bristol when he was last seen around 1.05am this morning (Sunday, November 23) near the Arnolfini.

The 28-year-old is described as being roughly 5ft 11ins tall, of muscular build and has short, dark hair, a dark beard and a moustache.

Rehaan was last seen wearing a black Levi's top, grey cargo trousers and a navy jumper.

He is from Llanelli in South Wales and also has links to Swansea.

Avon and...

• Normal Norm
• Replies: 3
• Forum: Missing Persons Discussion

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Sadly found deceased: Body found in search for Llanelli man missing in Bristol

I have studied the missing people in Bristol who end up in water. Something seems very, very off about it all. I went as far as mapping it out and it's all concentrated in almost exactly the same area.

 

[infohuntah]

So here is my "working" list of names I've researched. There may be some I've missed:

Alec Unsgaard

Student death: Body is found in search for 21-year-old Swedish man

Alec Unsgaard , 21, had recently moved to the UK from Sweden to study International Relations and Politics at the University of Bath when he went missing. A body has now been found.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Jason Gurgul

Missing Jason Gurgul: Body found in Bristol Floating Harbour

Jason Gurgul, 33, was last seen on a night out in Bristol city centre in the early hours of Saturday.

www.bbc.com

Isaac Morris (may be an anomaly)

Bristol man who killed himself had battled depression for years

Isaac Morris was only 25 years old when he died

www.bristolpost.co.uk

Lewis Ball

No-one will ever know how Lewis Ball died in the Floating Harbour

A post-mortem report failed to find out how or when Lewis Ball died

www.bristolpost.co.uk

Lily Fenton

Bristol, UK: 5th body found in city's waterways; police deny that a serial killer is on the loose

A fifth body has been found in and around Bristol's waterways in just five months, sparking more community safety fears following claims a serial killer was on the loose. Police today confirmed they had found a body during the search for missing...

www.sott.net

Abdulkadir Mahamoud

'No pusher' involved after four men died in Bristol waters

Two inquests – one into the death of Jason Gurgul and another into Abdulkadir Mahamoud – were held at Avon Coroners Court on Wednesday

www.bristolpost.co.uk

Deakon Wilkins

Reason Deakon Wilkins entered water unknown says coroner

Weston-super-Mare resident Deakon Wilkins was found dead earlier this year

www.somersetlive.co.uk

Trung Vu

No-one knows why man, 24, ended up drowning in Floating Harbour

The 24-year-old's body was discovered near Welsh Back after witnesses heard a splash

www.bristolpost.co.uk

Nick Wright

Some of the most tragic deaths on Bristol's waterways

Rivers, canals and other waterways have been the scenes of a series of tragedies in recent years

www.bristolpost.co.uk

and sadly now Rehaan:

Body found in search for Llanelli man missing in Bristol

Police say the body was pulled from the water in the centre of the city.

www.bbc.com

all to me, seem extremely odd and highly suspicious.

 

[SteveH]

The bloke who went in the harbour on Sunday morning was a PC:

"A police force have confirmed the death of their "colleague and friend" whose body was found in a city centre harbour.

PC Rehaan Akhtar, from Llanelli, in Wales, disappeared on a night out with friends in Bristol and was last seen at around 01:00 GMT on Sunday near the city's harbourside. His body was recovered on Monday."

Police confirm passing of colleague after night out in Bristol

Chief Constable Jeremy Vaughan said he was "shocked and saddened" to learn of Rehaan's passing.

www.bbc.co.uk

I'm not sure I find these unfortunate deaths that suspicious. Bath has long had a similar issue with young men = especially students after a night out - falling in the Avon and for some while there has been talk of a Manchester Pusher. From Wikipedia:

"The Manchester Pusher is the name given to a hypothetical serial killer, or individual, alleged to be responsible for the deaths of a number of people whose bodies have been retrieved from the waterways (principally the canals) of Greater Manchester, England, since at least 2007. Proponents of the theory claim that the "alarming" number of deaths to have occurred in the Rochdale. Ashton and Bridgewater Canals since the early 2000s cannot all have occurred as the result of accidents or suicides, and must have involved some element of foul play. Between 2008 and 2016 alone, 85 deaths were recorded in Greater Manchester's canals.

Greater Manchester Police have for years attempted to dispel the myth of the 'Manchester pusher', and offered alternate explanations for the numbers of deaths, but the theory of the pusher "often returns". Councillor Pat Karney, Manchester's city centre spokesman, dismissed the theory of a 'Manchester pusher' as an urban myth, adding "It [..] will never die, and any time there's an incident or accident it comes up again. I think it causes distress to the families that have lost their loved ones"."

As someone who has lived in Bristol most of my life and spent a few years living in Manchester in the 1980s, and has been three sheets in the wind many times in both cities - and I've had more than a few in Bath on several occasions - I have to say I find it baffling that so many people fall in the water and drown, but it happens in lots of places.

 

[infohuntah]

It's a morbid task but if you plot the place that these poor people were found, they've (almost) all got a few things in common:

1. Drinking late at night
2. bodies found near harbourside,
3. some had been to a known nightclub where drugs are dealt / drinks spiked (I wont name it but it's mentioned in some articles online) or near that nightclub
4. get separated from friends and end up alone prior to going missing
5. most seem to happen on: friday / saturday / sunday
6. most also seem to happen in the winter months
7. almost all are in their twenties and are students or young professionals
8. mostly all male
9. all seem to go missing between 10pm and 4am

If this was a normal occurrence, you'd see it replicated in many different cities, but the only other city where we see this (that I'm aware of) is Manchester, although not quite on the same scale as Bristol. There does appear to be a pattern.

If you take the most recent case, Rehaan, and look at my 9 points, lets see how many he checks:

1) check (1am), 2) check (harbourside), 3) not released publicly, 4) check (alone without friend), 5) check (sunday), 6) check (november), 7) check (age 28), 8) check (male), 9) check (1am)

as expected, he fits all but one category and the one he doesn't check is simply because the police haven't released that information yet, so it could be true