The grieving brother of a missing father-of-two feared dead in Spain says his family are “ripped to pieces” as they desperately search for his body.
John Hardy, also known as John George, disappeared on December 14, when he was due to drive from Alicante down to Benidorm. It is unknown if he ever made it.
His last known contact with his family was a ‘distressed’ phone call on Saturday, December 14. He failed to board a flight back to Belfast to make it home for Christmas with his children. He travelled to Spain three weeks earlier to visit friends, The Mirror reports.
Police have searched a property in Alicante, but there have been no official comments made by officers. His loved ones travelled to the area and launched a desperate search in the Spanish resort, scouring the area daily in a bid to recover his body.
Speaking to Belfast Live from Alicante on Saturday, John’s younger brother Darren expressed the family’s anguish.
Despite being in a state of limbo, the family has been bolstered by the support of around 40 people from Belfast, to Northern Ireland, where John is from, who have joined the search, with more arriving each day.
He said: “We very much stuck in limbo but a lot of people have come from Belfast to help us look for John and there’s more coming every day. The support from Belfast has been unbelievable and there’s about 40 of us now involved in the search.”
Darren voiced concerns that vital evidence may be being missed by Spanish police, who are treating John’s disappearance as a missing person case. It was hell over the festive period for one Brit family frantically searching the expansive Spanish countryside for their missing loved one, John.
Darren spoke emotionally about the ordeal:, telling Belfast Live: “Every local out here in Spain has been supporting us too. They’ve been out with dogs and drones helping us look. My mum and dad are out here together with my sisters and partners and John’s partner. But we’re having to scour through thousands of acres every day.”
The relentless search continued, even during what should have been joyous celebrations, as Darren recounted: “Christmas Eve and Day was spent searching fields and today we’re down at the beach and marina area. We’re searching from morning to night and there’s been no let up at all since we got over here this week.”
With hope dwindling yet determination unyielding, Darren added: “As a family, we will not stop until we find him but at the minute we’ve very little to go on. We’re praying for someone to come forward anonymously and give us a bit of information so that we can recover his body and get him home.”
He laid bare the sombre reality: “We know John is dead and not missing so we just need to get him back. There’s a £30,000 reward from family and friends for any information that leads us to him so we want somebody to come forward from any of his friends. We just need this nightmare to end and we’re doing everything in our power to find him.”
In a heartbreaking revelation, Darren shared: “Our mum has had two strokes and dad has had a heart attack but they are in their 50s and running around Spain looking for John.Mumis climbing mountains, crawling down caves and knocking doors in. We’re just devastated and heartbroken and John has two young kids at home who just want their daddy back.”
The family of John, who vanished in Spain, has expressed their heartfelt thanks for the overwhelming support from both Spain and Belfast, stating: “We’re hugely grateful for all the support both out here in Spain and back in Belfast. Everyone has been fantastic but right now we just need some vital information or tip off to get John’s body back. This can all stop now and be over but it won’t until we get John back. We will fight every day and we have to move to Spain, we will move to Spain. But we will not be leaving Spain without John’s body.”
In their quest, they’ve set up a GoFundMe page which has already amassed over £18,000. You can show your support by donating.
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