Mum of missing Jack thanks firm for data release

Catherine O'Sullivan's son Jack has been missing since 2 March

The mum of missing Bristol student Jack O’Sullivan has thanked the phone company EE for handing over data about his phone.

Catherine O’Sullivan has told the BBC she “really appreciated the help they have given us” after trying for months to access information from his phone that police said they could not share with them.

The family hope the data will provide new information about what happened to Jack on the night he vanished.

The data is now being sent to a cyber forensics company hired by the family, which will analyse its contents.

"We just need to be able to rule things in or out," Ms O’Sullivan said.

"We don't know what it will tell us, or if it will help us, but we need to know".

The decision by EE to hand over the data follows a campaign by members of a Find Jack Facebook group, who had written to company bosses asking them to help Jack’s family.

It comes after Avon and Somerset Police said the law prevents them from sharing information about his phone with Jack's family, who have filed an official complaint over the police handling of the case.

Jack was last seen on 2 March this year after attending a house party in the Hotwells area of the city.

He left the party alone, to get a taxi back home. But despite being spotted several times on CCTV that night, he then vanished.

Avon and Somerset Police say the last confirmed sighting of Jack was at 03:38 GMT walking down the Bennett Way slip road back in the direction of Bristol city centre.

Jack O'Sullivan was last seen after attending a house party in the Hotwells area of Bristol in March

The news about the phone data release comes a day after Jack's mum appeared on BBC's Crimewatch Live as part of a renewed appeal for information.

"I have to live with that tiny little bit of hope that it's all going to be ok," Ms O'Sullivan told the programme.

Det Insp Chidgey from Avon and Somerset Police told Crimewatch Live that Mr O'Sullivan's family, who have filed an official complaint over the police handling of the case, had shown "tremendous resilience".