Major update in search for Levi Davis as investigation is SUSPENDED one year after X-Factor star vanished without trace

AN investigation into the whereabouts of missing X-Factor star Levi Davis has been suspended, The Sun can reveal just days before the first anniversary of his disappearance.

The beloved 24-year-old singer and rugby player was last seen leaving an Irish pub in Barcelona on October 29 after travelling to the city on his own from Ibiza.

Officials in the Spanish city confirmed the court investigation into the missing rugby player has been halted.

Court sources have described the suspension as "provisional", and the police probe remains open but inactive.

The bombshell decision to halt the active judicial probe is believed to have been taken after the police-led search ended.

A judge then received a report from Spanish Coastguards detailing what had been done so far to find Levi.

Divers searched the waters in the port of Barcelona in May - but failed to yield any clues.

Cops confirmed at the time that their leading theory was that Levi drowned after crew members spotted a man in the sea shouting for help - on the same day he went missing.

A source said: "The legal proceedings being led by Barcelona’s Court of Instruction Number Seven have been provisionally archived."

Another insider admitted that although the case was currently at a standstill in the courts, it could be reopened if new evidence came to light.

"The suspension is a form of protection against the deadlines that exist in these sorts of cases where they eventually have to be closed for good," they said.

"As things stand at the moment the court investigation can be reopened if relevant new information comes to light."

The court suspension doesn't affect the Spanish police investigation, which remains open and ongoing - although it's currently thought to be inactive.

It comes just days before the anniversary of Levi's disappearance as he was last seen leaving The Old Irish pub on October 29 last year.

The star's disappearance sparked several theories, from having drowned to having gone missing "voluntarily" amid a  £100,000 debt to a Somalian gang.

After spending two weeks in Ibiza with his friend, the rugby star had taken a boat from Ibiza with just £35 in his pocket and no change of clothes.

He arrived in Barcelona and was seen walking up Las Ramblas before his trail went cold.

Levi’s disappearance was not reported to police at the time and his passport wasn't found near a cargo shipment at the port until days later.

The case was investigated by a group of officers at the Barcelona police station before it was handed over to a specialist investigative unit in February.

A spokesman for the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Catalan regional police force, said: "Our investigation remains open."

But the force turned down our interview requests and said it had no information it could share about whether any active inquiries were being made.

Local sources said Levi’s family were being kept informed through British consular officials.

Levi’s mum Julie Davis revealed in April she had been told by Catalan police they believed a man spotted in difficulties in the sea by crew on a cruise liner docking.

A lifebuoy was thrown to him and coastguards in Barcelona mobilised their helicopter called Helimer 203 and a vessel called Salvamar Mintaka.

Officers initially insisted drowning was only "one line of inquiry" and others hadn’t been ruled out.

Distraught Julie criticised the delay in the cruise ship information coming out and slammed Spanish police as "slow".

Detectives told Levi’s family they had discovered his phone signal was last picked up in the early hours of October 30 by a telephone mast at the far end of the port closest to the sea entrance.

It had previously been thought his mobile phone, which hasn’t been used since his disappearance, was last pinged close to the city’s main Sants railway station.

Levi played Premiership rugby union for Bath between 2017 and 2020, when he joined Ealing Trailfinders. A year later he signed for Worthing Raiders.

The rugby player-turned-reality star performed on X Factor: Celebrity in 2019 with fellow rugby players Ben Foden and Thom Evans as part of the group Try Star. 

In 2020 he appeared on E4 dating series Celebs Go Virtual Dating and became the first rugby union player to come out as bisexual.

At the time of his disappearance, Levi was taking a break in Europe after being sidelined from rugby following a knee injury.

Friend Richard Squire, who formally reported him missing to cops in Barcelona after his family informed West Midlands police, described his decision to leave Ibiza as "sudden".