Dr Michael Mosley’s disappearance ‘cut and paste’ case to man missing for five years

In:News Desk

Dr Michael Mosley’s family have been urged not to give up their search for the missing TV presenter by the son of a man who similarly disappeared on a Greek island five years ago in a “cut and paste” case.

The 67-year-old health and wellness expert has been missing since Wednesday after taking a coastal walk in searing heat on the Dodecanese island of Symi, in a case that has baffled local residents and has sparked a major search operation.

The case bears eerie similarities to that of John Tossell, a 78-year-old man from Bridgend, south Wales, who went missing on the Greek island of Zakynthos five years ago this month.

 Broadcaster Dr Michael Mosley was best known for popularising the 5:2 diet (Getty Images)

Follow our live coverage of the search on Symi

On the third day of a holiday with his partner Gillian, Mr Tossell decided to walk to visit a monastery on Mount Skopos. But he failed to return and was last seen on CCTV passing a hotel and leaving the town in the direction of Vassilikos.

Despite Mr Tossell’s family crowdfunding £7,000 in order to bring in the Western Beacons Mountain Rescue team – after Greek authorities called off their own search after just five days – his disappearance still remains a mystery.

“When I read the story it’s like a cut and paste of my father,” Mr Tossell’s son Gary told Sky News.

“He went for a walk and he vanished into thin air. As a family, we got together and said this is surreal. It’s the same story but a different person.”

“I wish nothing but love to the Mosley family as I know exactly what they’re going through and it must be awful for them out there at the minute. I want to tell them not to give up,” he added.

Mr Tossell’s family suspect there was “foul play” involved in his disappearance, with Gary warning that “human beings don’t just vanish”.

Describing the Greek search for this father, he said: “They knocked it on the head at 11pm and the next day they just went out walking, it was like a walk in the park for them. There was no intensity to their efforts.

“They said that there was a team coming from Athens with dogs and specialists but for some reason that got turned off at the last minute. Five days later they stopped searching entirely. Five days only. They said he must have left the island but when he left the hotel he had €10 and a bottle of water – you can’t get far with that.” In Dr Mosley’s case, the mayor of Symi, Eleftherios Papakaloudoukas, has insisted there is “no chance” the search will be called off until he is found.

But speaking through a translator, the mayor of 22 years questioned how anyone could survive in the heat that topped 40C on the day Dr Mosley disappeared. A search dog was only able to work for an hour on Saturday morning due to the temperature, as the search resumed, he added.

Mosley’s four children have arrived on Symi and are set to help with the search, which has so far involved police, firefighters with drones, and divers and has been described as “a race against time”. His wife, Dr Claire Bailey, and friends have also been searching the island.

CCTV has now shown that Dr Mosley arrived safely in the fishing village of Pedi, some 20 minutes from where he first set off. But he is then believed to have taken a more difficult hilly route in severe heat, without his mobile phone.

The mayor said the area where Mosley is believed to have travelled through is “difficult to pass” and is “only rocks”, and is also populated by “loads” of snakes.

“We all think as a family that foul play must have been involved,” he added. “Whether it’s a mugging gone wrong or a car accident and he’s been removed. Human beings don’t just vanish.” Mr Papakalodoukas has stressed that he doubts foul play is involved in Dr Mosley’s disappearance, saying: “We have zero crime on our island. We are a small community and we are all upset.”

by PA