Spanish police have finally opened an official investigation into the disappearance of Levi Davis, some 10 days after the rugby player and The X Factor: Celebrity star went missing.
The 24-year-old was last spotted leaving an Irish pub in central Barcelona on the night of October 29 and has not been heard from by family and friends since.
Davis's mother Julie has since revealed that her son had been struggling with mental health issues of late, exacerbated by a recent injury which could spell the end of his rugby career.
Despite his disappearance making news around the world, police in Barcelona did not initially mount a search for Davis, arguing that they needed an official missing person request to be submitted first.
Ten days after Davis was last seen, however, the Mossos d'Esquadra force have now said that they have decided to begin an investigation on their "own initiative".
A spokeswoman for the regional department said: "An investigation is now underway.
"It is an investigation we have decided to launch ourselves on our own initiative because we have yet to receive any official notification he is missing through the normal channels.
"We cannot inform at this stage on exactly what is being done and what will be done but efforts to find this man and establish what may have happened to him are underway.
"Obviously once we receive the official missing persons' report we should be in possession of more information that will help us in that task."
Davis's friends and family are flying out to Barcelona to assist in the search and plan to walk the city's streets in the hopes of finding him.
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