- 3 hours ago
Disclosure - Season 8 Episode 9 -
Has Anyone Seen Cole?
Has Anyone Seen Cole?
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😹
FunTranscript
00:00If you were to start the sentence, to me, Cole was, and what would be the adjective you use to describe it?
00:17A social butterfly. A young person with an old soul.
00:25What's it like being Cole's mum?
00:27Amazing.
00:30Privileged.
00:33Very privileged that I was able to bring someone like Cole into this world.
00:43He's so special.
00:46In May 2025, Cole Cooper was 19. He was a son and brother, a grandson and nephew. He'd just started his own joinery business.
01:11Tell me what happened.
01:12Well, erm, okay, so Saturday the 3rd, we'll start. Saturday the 3rd of May.
01:26So, Cole was just gone, a typical Saturday night out, to the pub, with his friends, to play pool, sing on the karaoke, which he absolutely loved.
01:37Monday tried to call him. Phones off.
01:41Tuesday the 6th of May, I get a text from my sister. Is there any chance that he could phone Cole? Because I can't get a hold of him. I give him a wee phone, no answer.
01:51Cole's parents were separated, but he saw both of them regularly.
01:55Cole's dad texted, I think it was the Wednesday, and said that he still hadn't heard from Cole. And I was like, look, I'm going to start contacting Cole's friends.
02:08And they were just all coming away with Thursday, Friday, Saturday, but no one confirmed anything after the Sunday.
02:15His phone's not been on. Nothing has been touched. Bank, social media, no friends heard from him. So then, obviously, I've contacted police, reported him missing.
02:27By this point, Cole had been missing for five days. Police came out that same day to ask the family questions. Amy was there too.
02:38Right, OK, so, what's he like? Does he do this? Is this a normal behaviour?
02:42The police felt taking it as serious as we would like.
02:47That's when we start having the debate with police. They weren't wanting to put any appeals out for him.
02:52I was told that he's just a missing young boy who's possibly out and drunk, and he wasn't a high risk. Therefore, they can't put a statement out until you're high risk.
03:09A critical part of a missing person inquiry is the police risk assessment, a set of questions establishing the likelihood someone may have come to harm.
03:18Questions include any known risk of suicide and whether it's out of character for the person to have gone missing.
03:26Police Scotland told us that someone's age, sex or sobriety are not factors which determine whether an appeal is issued or not.
03:34They initially categorised Cole as medium risk, based on information provided from family and friends.
03:41We explained to the police about Cole's mental health. Although Cole had not been diagnosed with depression or anything like that, he did struggle.
03:53The police say significant enquiries were carried out as soon as Cole was reported missing.
03:58They say he regularly moved between addresses and it wasn't uncommon for him to be out of contact with family.
04:04He's never run away, I've never reported on running away. The police have never been involved in my son's life until the time he disappeared.
04:14And the reason they kept saying no was because Cole just...
04:17Because he's 19 and he's a boy.
04:19There was no kind of rush or sense of urgency on their part. This is nearly a week that he's been missing.
04:25So we took to social media. Has anyone seen Cole?
04:38Every year in Scotland there's around 15,000 missing person reports.
04:43And men are most likely to come to harm during that critical time between missing and found.
04:50Across Scotland there's around 40 reports every day of someone going missing.
04:54We do hear from families that there's this assumption that because they're missing persons a young man that they'll be fine or just boys will be boys or that they'll come back with their own accord.
05:04There's this lack of vulnerability perceived for boys and young men when actually we would be really worried if that was a young woman that had gone away for multiple days.
05:13And actually we're not necessarily then understanding the risks that they might be facing and families feel like that can then inform the risk assessment.
05:21It can inform the amount of resources put into it and ultimately can mean that they're not found safe.
05:28Justice for all families!
05:31Justice for all families!
05:33This is Stephanie Bonner. In 2019 her son Rhys went missing. Two weeks later the 19 year old was found dead.
05:41Six years of missing you son. Six years of waiting for you to come back through that door.
05:47Stephanie believes her son's age played a factor in how his disappearance was treated by police.
05:53May I thank the committee for giving me...
05:55She's now campaigning for changes to the way police handle cases of missing persons, especially young men.
06:02I am a mum from Housing Scheme, a wee mammy from Belanark.
06:07Police Scotland failed to fully investigate Lise's death. This is not my opinion. This is a fact.
06:13If the body of a half naked 19 year old girl was discovered in an affluent area, I believe this investigation would have looked a lot different.
06:21It's my favourite footy.
06:33Oh, he's handsome there.
06:38It's been six years and it's as raw.
06:41It's absolutely hellish. I've been a nightmare. I've been a nightmare every single day.
06:46Stephanie feels the police were too slow to put out an appeal for Rhys.
06:52I begged them every day, down to my knees, down to my knees, begging them, please, please.
06:56Did you get a family liaison officer?
06:59Slow.
07:00Door-to-door enquiries?
07:02Slow.
07:03I said, please get some other dogs and please can you get a helicopter?
07:06Their response to you was what?
07:08No resources.
07:10I don't get enough resources.
07:12I said, bring my boy Miles, please.
07:15Like, I don't know what that means, but...
07:19Please.
07:21Just bring them back.
07:24Police Scotland said they issued an appeal four days after Rhys was reported missing
07:29and the family provided with a dedicated officer
07:33to provide support and update them on the investigation.
07:36When was he found?
07:3750,000.
07:3850,000.
07:43Rhys's body was discovered at this marshland in Easter House.
07:46He was semi-naked.
07:50When Stephanie and Rhys's dad, Scott, asked to see where their son was found,
07:54they say the police gave them a set of coordinates.
07:58These led to the wrong location.
08:00To this day, the family say they've never been told exactly where their son's body was found.
08:08So you've brought me here and you actually don't know yourself whether this is where Rhys was found?
08:14This is one of the sets of coordinates.
08:16Just one?
08:17One.
08:18And you've been given several?
08:19Several.
08:20So if Stephanie wanted, as her mother, to come and lay flowers, you know, it's Rhys's 26th birthday soon, like where would you go?
08:28Kill him.
08:29Kill him.
08:30Kill him.
08:31Kill him.
08:34When the post-mortem was done, a small amount of alcohol was found in Rhys's system and a tislam, also known as street valium.
08:42But a cause of death couldn't be found.
08:46The police concluded Rhys's case was unexplained.
08:51As it stands, you don't know how Rhys died, when he died, you don't know where he died.
08:57No answers.
08:58No answers.
08:59No answers at all.
09:02What is it that needs to change?
09:04The police got what needs to change.
09:06There needs to be accountability and there needs to be answers.
09:09If they're a missing person, they've got to treat it as high risk.
09:12High risk.
09:13High risk, yeah.
09:14You've never done this before?
09:15No.
09:16No.
09:17They need to admit their errors and if they have done something...
09:19They need to find their children, don't they?
09:20They need to find them.
09:21They cannae leave our children, they need to do this.
09:23They're supposed to help us.
09:24They're not supposed to make life worse.
09:26They're supposed to help us in times I need to...
09:30I brought my son into this world and in others, they said they could do it like that.
09:34It is.
09:35Inhumane, isn't it?
09:36Inhumane.
09:39Inhumane.
09:40Inhumane.
09:41Inhumane.
09:42Inhumane.
09:43Inhumane.
09:44Inhumane.
09:45Inhumane.
09:46I love you so much, pal.
09:47I'm so, so sorry!
09:48You are here yourself!
09:49For fasting whole days!
09:50Fasting whole days!
09:51Fasting whole days!
09:57Stephanie complained about Police Scotland's handling of the case.
10:01The force was ordered by the police watchdog to reinvestigate the evidence and officer accounts.
10:08Police Scotland itself upheld her complaint about its failure to carry out door-to-door inquiries near to where Rhys was found.
10:17The lack of the very basics in Rhys' case mean it's unlikely Stephanie will ever find out what happened to her son.
10:31Police Scotland told us Rhys Bonner's death was fully investigated by a dedicated team of officers who established no criminality.
10:40If the resources aren't put into a thorough investigation, if their body's not found for a long period of time,
10:46then that can absolutely contribute to an unexplained outcome because, unfortunately, some evidence is lost.
10:53There is a risk that if young men are less likely to get that kind of sense of urgency
10:59and therefore less likely to be found quickly when something bad has happened,
11:03then that could mean that there's less likely to be answers about what happened to them.
11:07Unfortunately, some families do feel like they're having to kind of lead the investigation,
11:12that they're having to kind of follow up on sightings, drive all of the social media focus,
11:17seek out publicity opportunities.
11:19Some families even kind of go out physically searching for weeks and that can be so damaging to them.
11:25That's exactly what Cole Cooper's family became, investigators.
11:32They felt the police hadn't been doing enough.
11:36So we just decided, right, OK, we're going to do it ourselves when they're not listening to us.
11:43We were doing TikToks and we're on Instagram, posting every hour on the hour.
11:48The minute that it pretty much went on there, it started to kind of spiral.
11:51Stop scrolling. I need you to listen to this video.
11:53Teenager has gone missing in Bank Nook in Falkirk.
11:56We're all in for Cole Cooper, right?
11:58There's a missing persons page that a group that they've made on Facebook,
12:02it says it's missing persons Cole Cooper. I'll show yous.
12:09And it literally, it was like almost overnight.
12:13Guys, I've been asked to share this.
12:15Try and get it as far as possible.
12:17Keep putting the searches out there, put as much out there as possible.
12:20My thoughts are worth you all and I'm absolutely devastated for you all.
12:23If he's out there, if he's able to watch this.
12:28We just want, we want you from home.
12:33Hundreds of messages, hundreds and hundreds pouring in.
12:36I think I've seen him here. I think I've seen him there.
12:39We asked everyone to check their gardens, their sheds, outbuildings.
12:47Just please, search.
12:49Five days after Cole was reported missing, police issued their first appeal.
12:54The following day, they changed his medium-risk status to high.
12:59We then started doing search parties.
13:03Thanks very much to everyone again for coming out today.
13:06It got to the point where we're having these searches of two or three hundred people.
13:13Group two will go out. Group three will stay. Group four. And then we'll all go in.
13:17We ended up making, you know, our family become team leaders.
13:23I don't know what to think.
13:25But I'm just trying to bring hope that he is still out there.
13:31It's quite sad that it got to a point where we're having to do that.
13:34Instead of you concentrating on your grief and your despair and your desperation for that person,
13:40you're now in a different role.
13:43This needs to be almost like a project.
13:46Cole's family continued trying to piece together his last movements.
13:50Police Scotland told us the family was entitled to continue searching,
13:54and they advised them on this.
13:56But at no point did they encourage the family to lead the investigation.
14:00We came across CCTV footage of Cole,
14:05and that's how we were able to put a timeline together.
14:13On the Saturday, Cole's went out with a friend,
14:18and then I went to the pub.
14:20His friends left. Cole's then went back to a house party.
14:23Yeah, I think I'm walking.
14:26Is that you?
14:26I don't like it.
14:30So then we've got footage of Cole walking by a house in Nisbet Drive,
14:36and Denny.
14:40Cole, they'd apparently got a taxi,
14:42which dropped him off at his dad's house.
14:45Then we've got footage of Cole leaving his dad's,
14:50three minutes or so later.
14:52Then Cole crossing over the main road.
14:55And I'm going down towards Cumbernauld Road.
15:03You can pretty much just see Cole jogging,
15:07and he's kind of looking over his shoulder quite a few times.
15:16And then it cuts off.
15:17All of the CCTV footage of Cole up until the moment he runs out of sight
15:28was found by the family.
15:31What were the police doing at that point?
15:32I was giving the police the information and asking them to follow up.
15:40I remember my sister at one point on her knees just screaming.
15:45Sorry, I can get a wee bit upset, but yeah, just screaming at them,
15:48saying, going to please just help me and listen to me.
15:50Police Scotland said they carried out house-to-house enquiries,
15:57taking over 130 statements,
16:00and deployed specialist search teams,
16:02a police helicopter and drones, divers and sniffer dogs.
16:07Almost five weeks after Cole disappeared,
16:10Wendy and Amy were out on another search,
16:12when the police called.
16:15When I got a phone call to see,
16:17Wendy, you need to get home or come out to see you.
16:20I can't hear the conversation,
16:22and just straight away she started stamping her feet.
16:26She just screamed, and she said,
16:28they've found a body.
16:35Cole's body was discovered by a member of the public
16:37in this small wood, less than a mile from his mum's house.
16:42He was found slumped against a tree,
16:44with a ligature round his neck.
16:47The interim post-mortem report could find no cause of death.
16:51Although police told the family it's likely Cole took his own life,
16:55they said they were treating his case as unexplained.
16:59What is unexplained? What is it?
17:01If you're saying,
17:02you think that my son has taken his own life,
17:06then why?
17:07Have you still got that as unexplained?
17:11Obviously, when you're looking at it from
17:12him potentially committing suicide,
17:19we've never been in denial about that.
17:21We know that Cole is capable of something like that
17:25because he has openly spoke about it.
17:28But then, in the other hand,
17:30telling us, well, it's actually being treated as unexplained
17:33and the post-mortem's coming back as unacertained,
17:36yet there's a ligature around his neck.
17:40It's leaving us with loads more questions.
17:45I can't grieve.
17:46I can't properly grieve for my child
17:54because I don't even have a date of death.
17:58I don't know what's happened to my son.
18:10My boy, he was such a strong, happy boy.
18:17He struggled, but it was my baby.
18:23It's clear to see the devastating impact on families like Cole's,
18:31families who felt they had no choice but to investigate the disappearance of their loved one.
18:37There's a lot of guilt that comes out of such an experience
18:42where you are put in a role that is not the one that you should have.
18:46You have to find the person quickly.
18:49The more you wait, the more risk is at play.
18:53So if you can't find your loved one, every minute counts.
19:00Pascale Vashnik knows the impact of this more than most.
19:03Her mother went missing 12 years ago and has never been found.
19:07Pascale's now dedicated her academic career
19:09to understanding the trauma felt by those left behind.
19:13It's a lot of pressure on families and that can be extremely traumatising.
19:20How do you live with the fact that you had to lead your own investigation
19:24and that you might have made mistakes because you are not an investigator,
19:29you are not a detective, you are not a disaster worker.
19:34Did I do enough? Did I search enough?
19:37How could I know that I shouldn't have looked this way but this way?
19:42You are so dependent on the police to conduct an investigation
19:48and when they fail to protect you and to give you the help that you expect,
19:55then your faith in the world around you disappears.
20:01Six years ago, a body was found in the water at Spears Wharf in Glasgow.
20:09It was 28-year-old Johnny Connolly.
20:12He'd been missing from home for a week.
20:16It still doesn't feel real that we have to sit here and speak about him past tense
20:22because emotionally you still feel like he's here sometimes.
20:28Oh, he should still be here.
20:31It was literally a danger to no one.
20:35He was so kind and he would never start an argument, never mind a fight.
20:40It just doesn't make sense to us how this has happened.
20:43He had slight learning difficulties.
20:48Yeah, he was vulnerable in ways.
20:53He didn't really pick up on social cues so if someone was being kind of like snide towards him
20:59or a bit sort of like aggressive or stuff, if it was subtle, he wouldn't really understand.
21:05For this to happen to him, it just breaks my heart because I know how gentle he was.
21:17Johnny's death was immediately treated as suspicious.
21:21He had injuries to his head and body.
21:24A trail of his blood led to the water's edge
21:26and three men were caught on camera near to where Johnny died.
21:30Johnny's family say the police investigation initially was everything they could have hoped for.
21:38I mean, the first two or three months, I think, of Johnny's investigation was just constant.
21:46They were doing door-to-doors.
21:48I think they had a helicopter out.
21:50They had divers.
21:52They had the forensics team working.
21:55And so, for those first couple of months, it was just, we felt so reassured.
22:02And then?
22:04Everything just slowed down dramatically for Johnny's case.
22:10The results of the post-mortem had come back.
22:14The pathologist's opinion was that none of Johnny's identified injuries would have caused his death.
22:21His case would remain unexplained.
22:23When they were sending out appeals to the public, it was always unexplained.
22:30They never really mentioned it being suspicious to the public.
22:35But we know that...
22:36It should have been marked as suspicious.
22:38There was nothing unexplained about Johnny's case.
22:41It's as simple as that.
22:45Our brother was murdered that night.
22:47He wouldn't have ended up in the water if he hadn't been attacked.
22:50I think the police are using unexplained as a tactic.
22:56What do you mean?
22:57Sometimes I wonder if it's a police pride thing.
23:01So they don't have to...
23:03They don't have to be seen as...
23:08Not getting the information that they should be getting.
23:11And it just leaves the family sort of in a limbo.
23:16You're constantly going through scenarios in your head of what might have happened.
23:21And I'm just heartbroken for Johnny.
23:27Police Scotland said there's evidence to support Johnny Connolly being assaulted before entering the canal.
23:33But after extensive inquiries, no criminality was established relating to his death.
23:41They understand Johnny's family and friends still have unanswered questions.
23:45And said that any new information received will be thoroughly investigated to try and get them those answers.
23:52In 2017, Scotland introduced the National Missing Persons Framework.
24:02By working with other agencies, it aims to prevent people going missing and to strengthen the response when they do.
24:10The number of reported cases has since come down, yet it's still in the thousands.
24:16In September, that framework was updated.
24:19It now includes a more detailed risk assessment of a missing person,
24:24with greater input from the loved ones of those who've disappeared.
24:29We still see families who feel very let down.
24:31We see investigations that haven't been resourced appropriately.
24:34We see situations where risks have been missed and serious harm does come because of that.
24:39The Scottish Government has already taken a real lead on responding to missing incidents.
24:43Police Scotland are kind of leading the way in missing person investigations.
24:47And yet we still see families that are being let down.
24:50So it's so important that we give the response to missing the prioritisation that it needs,
24:55because it is so important that it's literally life or death.
25:01Police Scotland told us all deaths where the circumstances or cause are unknown are treated with caution,
25:07and the initial protocols similar to suspicious deaths are implemented until more information is available.
25:15They said they do not prioritise missing young women over missing young men.
25:24For the families of these young men, left without answers in a world of unexplained,
25:30life has to go on.
25:32I've had a wonderful 19 years of being your older brother.
25:47And the next handful of years aren't going to be easy without you being by our sides,
25:53but we'll never forget you.
25:54I just pull in here, yeah?
26:06Yeah, you can just literally pull in here.
26:10The woods where Cole was found have become a place of comfort for his big brother.
26:16I decorated the area just because me and Cole have younger siblings.
26:23Cole loved our siblings a lot,
26:26and they would never want kids to be scared of this area.
26:34Is that why you've done this?
26:35Yeah.
26:36To put the lights in so the kids aren't scared to play?
26:39I just wouldn't want kids to feel like they can't go back to a place that they played at.
26:46You probably never imagined that you would end up in this space and this world, right?
26:53No.
26:54I never thought this would be my life.
26:56That is the difficult part.
26:58Like, not being an uncle to his kids,
27:01or just wee things like celebrating his birthday,
27:05or even getting to text him on his birthday.
27:07I remember at the funeral you said,
27:11I'm just imagining he's gone away on a holiday.
27:13Yeah.
27:15That's where I believe he is.
27:16Like, on a big holiday,
27:18somewhere nice, enjoying the sun,
27:21just waiting on whenever one of us show up.
27:25How do you, as Cull's mum,
27:31how do you move on from this?
27:32I don't know.
27:34I honestly don't know.
27:37At the moment, I take each day
27:40as it comes.
27:42I just can't imagine.
27:53I don't even want to imagine
27:56that the rest of my life is out of me.
28:02I had so much to look forward to with Cull.
28:05And that's been taken away.
28:14I can't come in Thames.
28:15I'm not going to see my hair.
28:17I can't.
28:35I'm not going to see my hair.
28:52I can't.
28:54I can't.
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