Private investigator searching for missing Levi Davis says the X Factor star’s claims he was being blackmailed by criminals ‘seem to be true’ after fellow contestants came forward with information

• X Factor star Levi Davis was last seen leaving a Barcelona pub on October 29
• The 24-year-old had posted a video online about being blackmailed by criminals 

The private investigator hunting for missing rugby and X Factor star Levi Davis says several former participants in the ITV show have contacted him to support his blackmail claims.

The 24-year-old spoke about being blackmailed by criminals who threatened to kill him and his family in a chilling last video he initially deleted which re-emerged a fortnight ago three months after he vanished in Barcelona.

Gavin Burrows, whose Line of Inquiry firm is offering a £10,000 reward for information that could lead to Levi being found, says he is in receipt of an audio tape claiming a TV producer took compromising pictures of the rugby player-turned-reality star after he appeared on X Factor.

There is no suggestion whatsoever he worked for or had anything to do with the popular show or another reality TV show Levi appeared on the following year.

Mr Burrows claimed in an explosive tweet today: ‘Following Levi Davis’ case being brought to light, we have received valuable alleged information from a number of former participants and other fellow contestants over a number of years in the X Factor programme who have confirmed the claims made in Davis’ video seem to be true.’

The private investigator hunting for missing rugby and X Factor star Levi Davis, pictured, says several former participants in the ITV show have contacted him to support his blackmail claims

Gavin Burrows’s Line of Inquiry firm is offering a £10,000 reward for information

He added in separate comments: ‘It seems you’ve got all these pretty boys and girls walking around, being promised the earth and disreputable individuals targeting and grooming what are essentially vulnerable people who end up getting stuck in sex trafficking basically or having compromising videos shot of them and things like that.

‘The X Factor are not involved but the people who are contacting us are pointing the finger at individuals standing in the sidelines, those making claims they can act as agents or managers or PR people.

‘One of the people who approached us is a former star who had to give up on music and run off and is now hiding in a Muslim country.

‘He was doing okay as a performer and he says everything Levi is saying is the absolute truth.

‘We’ve checked him out and he appears to have been a credible guy and he just disappeared off the scene.

‘The information we’ve received is that the trend seems to be that they take them to parties and are nice to them and get them into drugs, and when they do drug them up, they film them in a compromising sexual act.

‘That seems to be the common territory here, one that Levi talked about in his video and something that the people who have contacted us have lent credence to.

‘As we continue our investigations, we have also been approached by certain individuals related to the entertainment world.

‘However instead of being concerned about the investigation or Levi Davis’ whereabouts, these individuals have focused on asking us about how we obtained the information and from whom we received it. This interest has further increased our list of suspects in the case.’

Levi was last seen leaving an Irish pub on October 29 last year after taking a ferry from Ibiza.

Mr Burrows said he had retrieved Levi’s Instagram video claiming he had been blackmailed, which he first posted four days before he vanished, and released it with the agreement of family and friends to help get information.

Levi Davis is pictured playing for Bath Rugby against the Exeter Chiefs in September 2019

Davis travelled on a ferry from Ibiza to Barcelona from where he went missing in October

Levi Davis was last seen leaving The Old Irish Pub in Barcelona on October 29

The ex-Bath rugby player says at the start of the 15-minute footage: ‘Hello my name is Levi Davis and my life is in danger,’ before going on to allege he believed he was filmed performing various sexual acts after being drugged which blackmailers used to control and manipulate him.

He said: ‘I was told by them in ways which are not direct but are absolutely true that they were going to attempt – if I said anything out – they were going to attempt to kill me, threaten my family.

‘And they also were trying to frame me.’

Davis also alleges he gave police information about his manipulators, but that corrupt officers fed the information right back to them and refused to help him.

He said in the video clip the filming of him performing sexual acts in ‘compromising positions’ while under the influence took place after he met an unnamed individual he began a relationship with and met regularly after completing his stint on X Factor in 2019.

At the time Levi, who made history by becoming the first rugby union player to come out as bisexual while still playing, is thought to have been competing on Celebs Go Dating as a straight man.

Mr Burrows said last night he is not convinced the blackmail Levi talked about was necessarily the cause of his disappearance, but it was something that needed to be properly investigated by police.

Although he and his team fear Levi may be dead and there has been a suggestion he could have drowned in Barcelona Port near to where his passport was found, he said today: ‘If he is alive we believe he could be in hiding, in an involuntary exile somewhere like a monastery, to protect himself from toxic individuals.’

Last week Mr Burrows said he believed an arrest was imminent, claiming a man who was a friend of Levi’s had been obstructing his investigation and urging police to haul him in for questioning.

He insisted after handing in a damning expose containing evidence of the blackmail as well as threats he said Levi had received over a Somali mafia debt: ‘I believe Spanish police will have enough to make an arrest when they see what our own investigation has thrown up.

‘At the very least it should give them enough to haul someone in for questioning.

‘I’m not at liberty at the moment to go public with any names but there is one person in particular that I have grave suspicions about and believe can shed light on what has happened to Levi.

‘That person is someone who while pretending to help has in my view been nothing but an obstacle in trying to prevent our investigations from moving forward.’ 

Levi was taking a break in Europe after being sidelined from rugby following a knee injury.

He was picked up on CCTV leaving the Old Irish Pub near Barcelona’s La Rambla around 10pm on October 29, a few hours after taking a boat from Ibiza with just 40 euros (£35) and no change of clothes.

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

A fortnight ago it emerged Levi’s Instagram had up to 38 contacts mysteriously deleted after he vanished.

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.

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