THE persistent family of a man who died in Benidorm insist new evidence found in phone data further links foul play to the death of the father-of-four.
South Wales man Nathan Osman was 30 years old when he was found dead at the bottom of a remote 650 foot cliff drop on the outside of the Spanish resort.
A post-mortem investigation found he had died from head and abdominal injuries after falling from height.
In an interview with The UK Tonightthe family said new phone data shows he would have been unable to reach the area where he was found on foot.
After receiving his phone a few months ago, they discovered Osman’s final movements had been tracked through the health app.
Lee Evans – Osman’s brother – told the media outlet “[Osman’s] pace wasn’t consistent with a fast walk or even a sprint.”
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“There’s a breakdown inside the app of every 10 minutes – the distance, pace, measurement of pace… every detail you can think of,” he said.
Convinced Osman had been travelling in a car, Evans said the journey had been faster, despite being uphill for 40 minutes.
The beloved dad had been on a long weekend getaway in September last year when he left his mates in Benidorm to take a solo walk back to his hotel room.
Local police deemed his death a “tragic accident”, but his family’s suspicions that Osman’s death could have been a homicide were sparked when he was found in a remote location in the opposite direction of his hotel.
His relatives believe further investigation should have been undertaken into the possibility of foul play.
The grieving family-turned-detectives, they began doing their own investigation.
Building a timeline of events using CCTV footage, witness statements and Osman’s bank statements, his family found there had been attempts to use his bank cards the day after he died.
The case was reopened earlier in the year when his family presented the evidence to Spanish prosecutors.
The bereaved family have since visited the area Osman was found.
His mother Elizabeth said the experience had been eye opening.
“We were a bit upset, but we were very pleased we went up there”, she said.
“We could see… there’s no way he would have looked at that area and thought, ‘I’m going up here.’
“You can see straight off, there’s no clubs, there’s no hotels up there, there’s just the odd house dotted around,” she added.
“It was just out in the wild, there was nothing up there.”
The phone data helped the family ascertain Osman had died about half an hour after he was captured on CCTV walking towards his hotel in the early hours of the fateful morning.
Elizabeth said it was “really ridiculous that my son would’ve walked up there [the remote location where he died] at 4am in the pitch dark”.
After the family were originally interviewed in May, the Welsh Police opened its own investigation.
Evans said the South Wales Police had been “appalled” by the lack of evidence discovered by the original police investigation.
Osman’s father Jonathan said: “No procedures were followed. Nothing was cordoned off, it wasn’t a crime scene.”
“There’s loads of things that could’ve been taken,” he said.
“Tyre tracks, foot tracks, nothing. No DNA taken.”
Evans said the family’s year-long investigation could have been completed by local investigators in a fortnight.
“We’ve had to find out and keep delving into every possible outcome and overturn every stone possible,” he said.
We started off with… a needle in a haystack, we had no direction or any support on which way to go.”
The family said they found a further 27 CCTV cameras that could have recorded Osman’s movements in the area after local investigators said they didn’t find any.
Elizabeth said the Spanish authorities had told them the camera either “wouldn’t be working” or the footage would have already been erased.
“They just surmised everything,” she said.
Despite the road blocks, the family still has hope.
Evans said there had been “a number of CCTV cameras in the area”.
“We know there’s a way of finding a vehicle of some sort,” he said.
The family has conceded that because of the time that has passed, they may never know who was responsible for Osman’s death.
Elizabeth said “Nathan walks with us every day”.
“We all believe that,” she added.
“All we want is to find the one responsible for his death and for him to have the respect of a decent investigation.”