“We did not expect to still be looking a month later” – but police say Adrian investigation will continue

Thursday 07 January 2016

The detective leading “Operation Panama” into the disappearance of 20-year-old Adrian Lynch says that they are still considering all options as they continue to try to trace him.

Detective Chief Inspector Lee Turner has told Bailiwick Express that they had expected to find him by now, but that they’re still working on the theory that no-one else was involved in his disappearance.

Adrian went missing in the early hours of 5 December after being dropped off by a taxi at Carrefour Selous – he was seen several times by drivers and members of the public, and at one point entered someone’s house, but there were no sightings of him after being seen on a CCTV camera recording at around 2.17 am.

The physical search for Adrian was scaled down after an enormous effort including search teams, sniffer dogs, drone flights, divers and the Channel Islands Air Search Plane.

Although that part of the operation has been cut back, investigators have not given up on what's been codenamed "Operation Panama" - they have a team of six detectives following up more than 100 evidential leads.

They are still working on the theory that Adrian was inebriated after a work Christmas party, and was suffering from hypothermia and disorientation, and that he is probably dead.

In the interview with Bailiwick Express, Detective Chief Inspector Turner said: “It is still our belief that he got himself trapped or has fallen somewhere and has not been discovered, although we do keep an open mind, and another possibility is that he has been struck by a vehicle.

“We have been making contact with garages along those lines to ascertain any circumstances of vehicles brought in for repair since 4 December.

“This is a missing person inquiry – we are applying the rigour we would apply to a criminal investigation. We are not investigating a crime as such at the moment, but we are keeping our minds open should it veer towards a criminal investigation.”