Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Uni fresher vanished 2 minutes from home
Mystery surrounds hunt for Thomas
MISSING student Thomas Jones phoned his flatmate to say he was “two minutes away” before he vanished last week, a pal has revealed.
Minutes earlier he had taken a photo of himself on his way home that he sent to his friend, after telling his mum that he was already home.
Mystery continued to surround his disappearance as two 20-year-old men arrested on suspicion of his murder were last night released by police.
Officers said the men had cooperated with the probe and were no longer being treated as suspects.
Detectives said they were “keeping an open mind” over Thomas’s disappearance six days ago. They added: “This remains a missing person enquiry.”
The teenager vanished after a freshers’ night out in Worcester, where he was about to begin university.
Police were scouring the River Severn near the Sabrina Bridge by the city’s racecourse, but had yet to find any trace of the first-year student last night.
Childhood friend Harley Hetherington yesterday said Thomas had sent him a photo showing him by railings near the racecourse at 3.41am on Wednesday, around 10 minutes after telling his mum he was already home and a few minutes before he phoned his flatmate to say he was “two minutes away”.
He said: “The last call he made that I’m aware of is to his flatmate at 3.45am to say he was almost home. He had earlier phoned his mum to say he was home safe when he obviously wasn’t.
“But I’m not sure of the time of this. He did send a Snapchat, which showed a picture of him standing on some railings near the racecourse as he made his way home. There was no caption on it, just a picture of him with his location, so that’s why the search has focused around that area. That was taken at 3.41am.”
The friend said he had seen Thomas in the Velvet nightclub in the city centre earlier that night and he “seemed absolutely fine”.
He added: “He was behaving normally and didn’t seem intoxicated. There was no sign of drink or drugs, that’s what has baffled us all. He was his usual bubbly self, looking forward to starting uni.
“He knew Worcester city centre as we’d been out there before, but he was new to the St John’s area, where his new halls of residence were.”
Thomas moved to Worcester from his home in nearby Bromsgrove last week and was due to begin a Primary Education course this week. Aunt Jackie Rogers said: “To go missing is totally out of character for him.”
Superintendent Damian Pettit of West Mercia Police said: “Officers are working around the clock to try to locate Thomas. The community has really pulled together. We’re continuing with a number of lines of enquiry.”