Hi all - long-time listener, first-time caller.
I've been thinking about this since Jake (Daniel's brother) asked for help on Reddit in June.
I haven't been able to locate Daniel, but I have found a number of contradictions with the police investigation to date, which are backed by physical evidence.
I thought I'd share my findings here; hopefully they can help others in pushing the investigation forward. I've linked to all sources where possible, but please shout if I've not done this correctly.
I've made two FOI requests in relation to the case:
Devon & Cornwall Constabulary
When I initially found inconsistencies in previous police statements, I made a request for specific facts and statistics, to which the Police replied in full this week. Because this is a missing person case and not a criminal investigation, I argued that exemptions under Section 30 of the Freedom of Information Act did not apply, since Section 30 explicitly considers and refers to criminal investigations.
St Ives Town Council (Cornwall)
This confirms the status of the public CCTV system in the town on the day Daniel disappeared.
Issue #1 - Police statements regarding Daniel's movements
As the FOI request confirms, "Devon and Cornwall Police has the public view that Daniel’s movements on 08/12/2023 were from his home in Plymouth, to Plymouth Train Station, there he took a train to St. Erth, where he appears to leave St. Erth station on foot."
This has been the view of the Police since the beginning of the investigation. The issue is that the physical evidence does not support Daniel leaving St Erth station on foot:
A
Police statement dated 18th December 2023 stated that Daniel was last seen on CCTV at St Erth train station at 12.08 PM
[image #1 above].
A later Police statement stated the last confirmed sighting of Daniel was at Porthmeor Beach in St Ives at 1.38 PM on the same day.
[image #4 above].
The total walking time between the two points and along the SW Coast Path,
is approximately 1 hour 45 minutes. The time difference between the two images is 1 hour 30 minutes.
Because Daniel’s bank transactions showed the purchase of a (return) train ticket from Plymouth to St Erth only, Police have always maintained - as the FOI request confirms - that Daniel walked from St Erth train station to Porthmeor Beach in St Ives via Carbis Bay, and that St Ives was always Daniel’s intended destination. And it wasn't unreasonable to assume if Daniel was a quick walker (which according to Jake, he is), that he could have walked between the two locations in the time allowed.
However, when the BBC covered the disappearance of Daniel in late January / early February, Devon & Cornwall Police
released new CCTV footage for a short TV feature (in the video embedded at the start of the news article), showing two confirmed sightings in Carbis Bay, a coastal town between St Erth and St Ives (Daniel’s family weren’t aware of this footage before it was broadcast).
In the first, Daniel is seen walking in the opposite direction of the SW coast path to St Ives at 12.35 PM
[image #3 above].
In the second, Daniel is walking towards the SW coast path to St Ives at 12.40 PM
[image #4 above].
This time, the CCTV evidence is timestamped, and establishes that Daniel was at St Erth train station at 12.08 PM, and in Carbis Bay at 12.35 PM, 27 minutes later. And while Google’s timings are subject to a margin of error, the distance of 2.6 miles / 4.2 km is likely accurate.
The only way to cover 4.2 km in 27 minutes on foot, is to run continuously at a pace of roughly 6 minutes per kilometre, or 10 km/h -
a typical running pace, and absolutely not sustainable for somebody who has never trained for it.
While Daniel was a quick walker, Jake doesn’t believe that Daniel ran or jogged as a hobby. He was wearing skinny jeans, leather trainers, a winter jacket and carrying a bag - he certainly wasn’t dressed to do this.
So either:
- Daniel left the station and immediately ran 2.6 miles in 27 minutes, along a route he’s unfamiliar with, and showed no signs of physical exertion afterwards
- The timestamps on the CCTV videos in Carbis Bay are both incorrect by up to 35 minutes
- Daniel didn't travel from St Erth station to Carbis Bay on foot
The CCTV timings strongly support Daniel changing trains at St Erth to arrive in Carbis Bay at 12.25PM, but this is speculation:
Issue #2 - Mobile phone signal & cell tower coverage
According to multiple press stories and Daniel's family, Daniel’s mobile phone last connected to a base station in the Camborne area at 6:40 PM, a town approximately 13km to the East of St Ives. It is unclear whether the phone was switched off, whether the battery died or something else occured.
The family were told by Police that because of the semi-rural location's lack of cell towers, it was possible for Daniel’s phone to connect to the Camborne tower from the SW Coast Path.
In the early stages of the investigation, Devon & Cornwall Constabulary believed Daniel may have taken his own life on the SW Coast Path west of St Ives. They initially told Daniel’s family that they believed Daniel never left the St Ives locale, and that his mobile phone may have disconnected on entering the water (this is documented through posts and comments by Daniel's family on
a Facebook page set up by them).
While the Police told Daniel’s family they’ve found no evidence that Daniel left St Ives after the last sighting at 1:38 PM, neither did they provide any evidence based on the call data that Daniel remained in St Ives; the CCTV footage from Porthmeor Beach at 1.38PM remains the last confirmed sighting of Daniel.
The issue is that physical evidence do not support this version of events.
First, there's the fact that St Ives may be considered semi-rural by the Police, but cell tower coverage in the area is significant.
If Daniel’s phone was in St Ives or on the South West Coast Path at 6.40 PM when the final signal was received in Camborne, the signal would have to pass - and ignore - multiple other towers around St Ives and Hayle to reach Camborne.
This is the cell tower coverage map below is for O2 and Giff Gaff, which Jake confirmed as Daniel’s mobile phone network:
There are approximately
40 to 50 individual cell towers between St Ives and Camborne available to the O2/Giff Gaff network, so it’s unclear why the Police told the family that cell coverage is sporadic in the area.
I've spoken with two mobile network engineers about this; they both confirmed that it would be highly unusual, to the point of being unheard of, for a mobile phone to behave in the way described by the Police. One told me: “Yes, rural base stations can be quite far apart, but it's most likely the tower [in Camborne] that the phone connected to was the closest.”
Second, there is the issue of topography. If Daniel was on the coastal path to the West of St Ives, there isn't a clear line-of-sight to any of the base stations in the O2/Giff-Gaff network in Camborne. This is because the SW Coast Path is within a few metres of the sea on one side, and immediately backs onto steeper hills on the other:
Again, I've spoken to several locals who walk and run the SW Coast Path to the West of St Ives, who all describe phone signal on the path as largely non-existent.
In the FOI request, Devon & Cornwall Constabulary confirm that the "call data records (including cell usage details) for Daniel's mobile phone [have] been fully reviewed by an expert experienced in cell site analysis", but they've never explained to the family (or made public) the discrepancy.
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None of this physical evidence helps identify Daniel's location, but it does contradict the statements made public by the Police. Daniel's family have publicly stated they felt there wasn't a proper investigation, to the point that the Police told the family
they believed Daniel died by suicide less that a month after his disappearance.
Happy to discuss any points raised, and if anyone can validate (or invalidate) any of the points made, please do.
www.plymouthherald.co.uk
www.love-stives.co.uk
www.cornwalllive.com
