Missing John Tossell: Daughter fears 'foul play'

The daughter of man who went missing on a Greek island a year ago believes "foul play" and "third-party involvement" could be involved.

John Tossell, 74, from Bridgend, was last seen on 17 June 2019 going for a walk up Zante's Mount Skopos.

He was on the third day of his holiday with his partner, Gillian, when he disappeared, prompting a major search involving specialists from Wales.

"It beggars belief he hasn't been found," said his daughter, Katy.

On the morning of 17 June, Mr Tossell had gone to visit a monastery on Mount Skopos, near the village of Argassi, but failed to return to his hotel.

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Described as a "fit man", he swam three times a week and walked miles with his dogs.

Local fire and rescue teams searched the mountain and volunteers from the Western Beacons Mountain Rescue team joined the efforts after £7,000 was raised to make the journey, along with family members.

"They just don't think he's on that mountain," said Ms Tossell.

CCTV footage of Mr Tossell on Zante was obtained by his family in their search for clues

"If he's fallen, he would have been found and he hasn't. So it raises questions.

"Has someone taken him or has someone taken him and hid a body out of sight?

"You just can't help but think these things because it beggars belief he hasn't been found with the amount of effort that has been put in by the rescue teams.

"Foul play and third party involvement has to be considered."

Mr Tossell's disappearance was featured in a TV series which looks to solve cases of missing people in Greece.

But 12 months after his disappearance, the police investigation has drawn a blank and Ms Tossell fears the worse.

"We are no further along than the day he went missing," she said.

"We, as a family, had to go to the restaurants and bars in Argassi to source the CCTV and find the image of him and, if the area was searched sooner, perhaps more clues could have been picked up."

Police in Zante were approached for a response at the time of the disappearance.

'We just want to find him'

John Tossell with son, Gary, and daughter, Katy

"We haven't given up hope of seeing dad alive again but there's a massive part of us that knows he's not coming back," said his daughter.

"That's why we are putting the appeal out today, asking people if they were in Argassi to really think back and think hard if you might have seen my dad.

"During this lockdown maybe you've got time to go back through your holiday photos and check if you can see him in the background.

"If anyone wants to come forward anonymously just to give us some information, we just want to find him and, if not alive, at least we can then lay him to rest and have closure."