Twist in search for missing Brit in France as 'multiple flights booked in his name'

Daily Mirror

6 days ago

Robert Kincaid, a 38-year-old from Belfast, was due to travel home via Charles de Gaulle Airport after flying from Benin, but failed to board his connecting flight
The brother of a man who vanished in Paris says there's another twist in his disappearance after cops found multiple flight bookings in his name.
‌
Robert Kincaid, 38, from Belfast, was due to fly home from Benin via Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, but police are saying he never transited through the French city, according to his brother Louis.
‌
After flying to the French capital on Wednesday, Louis met officials from the British embassy and French police. He says that when he arrived - French cops had no record of his missing persons report despite the PSNI relaying it to Interpol. It comes after two best friends celebrating birthday were killed in explosion after lighting candle.
‌
‌
'When we arrived at the police station, they had no record of Robert's disappearance being reported to them, so we filed a missing persons report there and then. They kept asking us if we were sure that he was in Paris and how we knew that he was in Charles de Gaulle,' Louis told Belfast Live.
According to Louis, police in Paris initially insisted Robert had never arrived in France. They claimed he had not boarded the flight from Cotonou, Benin, and had not used his passport.
'The police loaded up a laptop and said that he never got on the plane from Benin and said that he never presented his passport. They were adamant that he was not in Paris and told us that he had been booked on a flight from Benin to Paris last night, which was due to arrive this morning,' he said.
‌
It has since transpired that Robert had initially been due to fly home from Benin on July 30 but had left early for reasons unknown to the family.
Louis went to the airport this morning with a member of Embassy staff, hoping to see his brother disembark. Robert did not appear. They were later told that although Robert had been booked onto that flight and another one scheduled for the following day, both bookings had been cancelled.
However, the situation took a further turn when Foreign Office officials confirmed Robert had indeed boarded the original flight on July 17. His name appeared on the flight log, and his passport had been scanned.
'They then came back and said that he had boarded the flight on the 17th and that he was on the flight log for that date and that he definitely made it to Paris,' Louis said.
French police have now retrieved the details of whoever booked the recent flights in Robert's name. Meanwhile, the PSNI has accessed Robert's bank accounts and are attempting to trace any card transactions he may have made.
'We were in the police station for a good couple of hours, and they were very thorough, but they didn't seem to want to check through any CCTV. They are now investigating, and now we have it confirmed that he was on that flight on 17th July. The French police are now liaising with the PSNI, and they are attempting to trace the location of his last phone call,' Louis added.