‘That Phone Could Hold the Truth’: Levi Davis Family Says Investigator Withheld Evidence

A private investigator has been accused of ‘hacking’ and ‘withholding’ an iPhone considered critical to the ongoing investigation into the disappearance of rugby and reality TV star Levi Davis, Byline Times can reveal

Gavin Burrows took the device from Mr Davis’s grieving family after volunteering his help in their search following the former Bath Rugby and X Factor star’s unexplained disappearance in Barcelona in October 2022 – a case that remains one of Europe’s most perplexing of recent times.

But after falling out with family and friends of the missing man, who say Burrows later became “highly abusive” toward them, prompting an official complaint to his trade body, the phone’s whereabouts – and its secrets – remain a mystery three years later. 

“That phone could hold the key to why Levi posted on Instagram before he disappeared saying his life was in danger,” Davis’s mother Julie said today, referring to a harrowing 15-minute film her son made alleging he’d been a victim of targeted drug rape and organised blackmail after appearing on reality TV shows in the UK.

Miss Davis added: “This is why the family are desperate to have the iPhone back. Myself and others have repeatedly asked Mr Burrows to return Levi’s device since spring 2023 so it can be properly forensically examined by the police. He told me that he could not release it to me and then went silent. As far as we are concerned he is responsible for withholding potentially critical evidence.”

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New Version of Events

While the Davis family say Burrows has simply refused to give the iPhone back – and are now publicly calling for its return – Burrows offered a new version of events this week in response to questions from this newspaper.

He claimed that “to the best” of his knowledge a “Spanish consultant operative” gave Levi’s phone to the Catalan authorities, although Byline Times can confirm there is no record to support this claim in the official reports of the Investigating Magistrate in Barcelona, Senor Francisco Miralles Carrio.

Burrows did not deny offering to bypass the iPhone’s security in order to “help find” Davis and identify a mystery suspect the sportsman cut short a holiday in Ibiza to meet in Barcelona, arriving by ferry on 29 October, 2022, with just a small backpack of belongings before vanishing five hours later.

Instead, he justified the use of “any feasible means to help find a missing person,” which he said would “naturally be utilised,” insisting: “this is normal procedure in missing person cases,” – potentially tainting what might have been a critical piece of evidence in the police’s criminal investigation.

According to three witnesses, Burrows started making unsolicited offers to bypass the phone’s security in order to access Davis’s private information in 2023. 

But his relationship with the family and others later deteriorated sharply following lurid and, it transpired inaccurate, tabloid stories that Davis was fleeing a Somali gang over an alleged £100,000 drugs debt and, separately, that police were going to imminently arrest people close to Levi – articles in which Burrows was a quoted source.

Julie Davis said: “Mr Burrows got in touch out of the blue right after Levi went missing. He offered to help us at a time of great need but very soon it became clear he was more interested in using Levi as a vehicle for self-promotion.

“He propagated a number of false and unhelpful allegations about my son to the press, muddying the focus of the search, and in my opinion cutting across police inquiries in the UK and Spain.

“There are many questions around activity on Levi’s WhatsApp and other apps which may have records of people he was speaking to in the lead up to his disappearance.

“These have been identified by the Barcelona police and other investigations as vital lines of inquiry. Mr Burrows had no right to obstruct that and despite his claims to have given the phone to the Catalan police, they have no record of it, leaving us at a terrible loss yet again.”

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‘Increasingly Hostile’

Miss Davis has shown Byline Times emails and messages which she says demonstrate Burrows becoming increasingly hostile when objections were raised to his “unhelpful” media briefings.

Miss Davis said: “I’m speaking politely, because Gavin was not very nice towards me at all. He practically blamed me for the fact that Levi went missing because, according to him, I was a ‘bad mother’. There were several upsetting phone calls. It felt incredibly cruel, seriously abusive, and highly unprofessional.

“I was trying to mourn the loss of my son and find him, and all Gavin could do was this. I thought ‘what the hell – are there no decent people in the world?’.

“It left me shocked. Made me a bag of nerves. Wondering where I went wrong, thinking maybe perhaps I shouldn’t have allowed Levi to go to Barcelona. Been a bit more protective. All these thoughts were going on. I was questioning this because Levi and my other children have told me on many occasions what a special mother I am.”

Two additional sources have told Byline Times that Burrows’ private investigation company, Line of Inquiry Ltd contacted Levi’s distressed family in the days after he disappeared.

One told how Burrows – who promoted himself as a “tenacious, accomplished private investigator chosen by private clients, lawyers, celebrities, high-net-worth individuals and captains of industry” – made contact via an email address established to receive information about Levi.

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‘It was B******t’

They said Burrows initially offered to fund a £10,000 reward and run a “whole campaign”, taking possession of the phone on or around 23 January 2023, before relations went downhill.

The source said: “And basically he became increasingly unreliable. And he kept putting out stories in the press. He was obsessed with the idea he was claiming he was following people. I’m following this gang. I’m following that gang. [We] called him out and said it was b*****t.”

The source said Burrows went on to “scream abuse” at them on several separate occasions. Byline Times is aware of the extreme nature of the conversations and is not repeating them.

Burrows’ own account of the allegedly abusive behaviour is that “heated” conversations with one “particular” unspecified associate resulted in Burrows being the recipient of an apology.

Burrows told Byline Times: “Naturally, conversations can become heated during a crisis situation. The only recollection of this is a particular associate, conversely, apologising to me the following day.”

But a third source who dealt with Burrows said: “He was horrible. Really rude. I was trying to help him with information but he was absolutely mad to deal with.”

The behaviour prompted a complaint to the trade body Burrows had been a member of since 1997: the Institute of Professional Investigators (IPI). 

A spokesperson for the IPI told Byline Times: “The IPI held an internal disciplinary investigation into the complaint at the end of which Mr Burrows membership was withdrawn.”

Burrows insists it was he who “resigned” from the IPI over matters “nothing to do with the Levi Davis investigation”.

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The Daily Mail Case

Burrows’ credibility is also under scrutiny elsewhere. He is currently at the centre of another high-profile matter – as an alleged unlawful information contractor for the publishers of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, Associated Newspapers Ltd (ANL) between 2001 and 2005.

He is set to become a key witness for both sides in a trial due to begin on Monday (19 January) in which Baroness Lawrence, Sir Elton John, and Prince Harry are accusing the news group of widespread unlawful invasions of privacy, which it denies.

Burrows is abroad and appears to be seeking to give evidence to explain two “flatly contradictory” witness statements given in his name in the Mail case, by video link. Whether he will appear as a witness in person or not is currently clear. 

The first is a detailed admission to extensive land-line telephone tapping and a wide range of other illegal information gathering. The second is a complete reversal and denial of that apparently signed and sworn evidence, claiming that the first was a forgery. The truth will be determined by the judge Mr Justice Nicklin.

On Wednesday, in unusual scenes at the High Court in London, a barrister for Burrows addressed Nicklin on the subject of this Byline Times article, saying that “rightly or wrongly” his client characterised our request for a right to reply as a “blatant attempt to intimidate him at the commencement of trial prior to him giving his evidence”.

This, Burrows claimed, was giving him cause to reconsider giving evidence in the ANL trial. Mr Justice Nicklin did not respond, and on Friday ordered Burrows to appear as a witness before him.

In a further statement to Byline Times, Burrows said: “This appears to be a blatant attempt by Byline Times and its associates to smear me.

“It can be of no coincidence these claims have been made when the trial in the case between ANL and Prince Harry et al is imminent.  I regard this as a blatant attempt to intimidate me before I give evidence in that trial.”

He added: “Most importantly, though, I remain devastated for Levi Davis’ family and friends at his tragic disappearance.”

Byline Times will be covering the forthcoming ANL case.