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Missing Brit who vanished after stag do in Portugal found dead in ravine

Missing Brit who vanished after stag do in Portugal found dead in ravine

Daily Mirror04-06-2025
A British tourist who went missing for over a week on a stag do has been found dead.
Scottish man Greg Monks, 38, was discovered at the bottom of a ravine after he was last seen in Albufeira, Portugal.
Greg, from Glasgow, vanished in the early hours of last Wednesday morning after travelling to Albufeira for a stag do with friends. His parents and girlfriend flew to the country to help with the search.
Portuguese police today confirmed a body has been found in "steep wasteland" and is believed to be that of Greg. His cause of death is not yet known and an autopsy is set to be carried out.
Police have not revealed what they believe to be Greg's cause of death.
More information is expected to be released after the autopsy takes place but privately, while the hunt was still on for Greg, police said there was nothing pointing to his disappearance being a crime.
Police in Portugal have confirmed the body of Greg Monks has been found after a week-long search.
The Policia Judiciaria police force said in a statement: 'The PJ has located the body of the missing Scottish tourist in Albufeira.'
It added: 'PJ police, through the Southern Directorate and with the collaboration of the Albufeira GNR police force, today located the body of a man who had been missing since May 28 in the Cerro de Aguia area of Albufeira.
'The disappearance of the 38-year-old UK citizen was reported to the Albufeira GNR at 8pm on the 28th by another man who was accompanying him on holiday in the area.
'After carrying out various enquiries and establishing the presumed route taken in the early hours of that day since the last sighting, the body was located on steep wasteland.
'After the appropriate judicial inspection, the body will be removed and taken to the nearest Institute of Forensic Medicine for an autopsy.'
Greg's family has insisted his disappearance was out of character and he did not suffer from mental health problems.
Jillian said: "He's not got any mental health issues or issues with depression. Nothing like this has ever happened before. That's why when I got the phone call from one of his friends on Wednesday to say he had gone missing it immediately threw up a red flag."
Jillian also said she and her sister have children and Greg was a "great" uncle to them.
"My daughter particularly has got a very close bond with him," she said. '"She dotes on him."
Greg Monks was a 38-year-old man from Glasgow. He was a "plant mechanic" who "fixes big diggers and HGVs and things like that", according to his sister Jillian.
She said that Greg, who attended a stag do in Portugal as part of a group, is generally a "quiet" and "content" person who lives with his girlfriend.
"They have a bulldog and they just go out walking the dog," she said.
Another of Greg's sisters, Carlyn, told Sky News last night: "As a family, we're worried sick. It's just so unlike him, but myself and Jillian are just trying to hold each other up back home."
Jillian also admitted their "unimaginable" fear that Greg may be "lying somewhere and we can't find him".
Portuguese newspaper daily Correio da Manha is reporting Portugal's Policia Judiciaria force is at the scene.
Greg disappeared after the first night of the stag do. He was last seen on CCTV in the residential area of Cerro de Aguia, located roughly four miles away from the main club and bar strip of Albufeira, on Tuesday 27 May
His sister Jillian sounded the alarm on May 29 and she described his disappearance as "completely out of character".
She wrote on an Albufeira expat site: "My brother has not been since Tuesday evening. If you are currently there and have any information place contact me with any info."
Greg Monks' body is understood to have been found by police at the bottom of a ravine.
Greg, 38, vanished on Wednesday morning in the Algarve while he was away with friends on a stag do.
His sister Jillian said: 'There are about 10 to 15 friends all from Scotland on the stag do and Greg was due to be a groomsman.'
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Man, 29, arrested after woman, 21, 'stabbed' outside Scots pub 13 Parents conducting a peaceful vigil outside the hostel for the homeless in Stirling where convicted paedophile Alan Christie was staying Credit: Alamy 13 Mags was instrumental in getting Christie forced out of the area Credit: Jim Stewart She and her kids lived on the Raploch housing estate, with various grandchildren, nephews and nieces scattered across the complex. In late 1996, 12 schools close to the Raploch received a leaked confidential note that a paedophile was living in the area, in accommodation provided by the council. Furious Mags led a protest, mainly of women, outside the accommodation, demanding he be removed. When the man, Alan Christie, was taken away for his own safety, the people of Raploch celebrated their victory. TV news and newspapers were hooked on this down-to-earth grandmother and she revelled in it Myles Bonnar 'As for Big Mags, this was only the beginning,' says presenter Myles Bonnar. 'The vigilante mob leader was now a woman on a mission. 'TV news and newspapers were hooked on this down-to-earth grandmother and she revelled in it.' Cassie recalls: 'I'm not going to say she didn't love the attention, because she did. 'They all tell funny stories about that time. If I remember correctly, one of them said she had a child's karaoke machine with a mic and would use it to rally the local community to get involved in the protest.' 'Keeping courts in business' 13 Mags led a protest, mainly of women, demanding the child sex offender be removed from their estate Credit: Newsflash 13 On August 25, 1997, a crowd started to gather outside Mags' flat, which grew 400-strong Credit: James Stewart But Mags would soon regret stepping into the limelight. Many on the estate knew the other side to Big Mags, and were appalled that she was being feted as a campaigning hero. 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'They actually went into my room and stole my television. My window was open a bit and I was in the living room with my mum, my dad and my brother and a couple of my pals. 'They came in through the window and stole the television that my dad got me four months before, for my birthday.' She also claims she was on the receiving end of threats - including that they would throw eggs at her wedding car. Things turned even scarier when, in 1994, Mags' 16-year-old granddaughter Kim stood on a wheelie bin and set light to Caroline's curtains through an open window. The fire destroyed one room and covered the rest of the flat in soot. The council put Caroline and her family into bed and breakfast accommodation and they never returned. 'We were too scared to go back,' she says. Oddly, Mags turned her own granddaughter in over this incident, taking her to the police station. 'Family from Hell' 13 Mags was forced to move to temporary accommodation on Upper Bridge Street in Stirling after being hounded out of her home Credit: Alan MacGregor Ewing - The Sun Glasgow 13 The crowd chanted for the Haneys to get out, singing, 'Build a bonfire and put the Haneys on the top' (pictured: Mags responds to the protest) Credit: James Stewart One case in May 1995, on the face of it quite minor, would launch the Haneys from local court reporting to national notoriety. Mags's 20-year-old son, Jo Jo Haney, was in court where he received a 60-day prison sentence for planning a theft at a hotel. The Sherriff that day remarked during the sentencing: 'What troubles me is the misery that this particular family has inflicted on the Raploch community over many, many years. 'If I were the presiding Sherriff here, I'd be taking very severe steps to make sure that this particular family are deterred from any further offending.' To his astonishment, Mags told Mr McGivern outside the court: 'I don't know what he's complaining about. It's my family that keeps him in a job.' The story was widely reported the following day, and the clan was now on the newspapers' radar as 'The Family from Hell'. A petition sprung up demanding that the council remove the Haney family from the estate, attracting hundreds of signatures. On August 25, 1997, a crowd started to gather outside Mags' flat, which grew 400-strong. They began chanting for the Haneys to get out, singing: 'Build a bonfire and put the Haneys on the top.' I don't know what he's complaining about. It's my family that keeps him in a job Big Mags Mags was taken away under police escort, giving everyone the finger as she left. She would never return to the estate. Her reign within the Raploch was over. But she was far from finished. Settling nearby in Lower Bridge Street, Stirling, Mags' drug dealing became very lucrative as she moved on to heroin. 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The full series of the Crime Next Door: The Ballad of Big Mags podcast is available on BBC Sounds now. 13 Mags served six years before being released in 2009 (pictured in 2012) Credit: Daily Record/Media Scotland 13 Big Mags died in August 2013, aged 70 Credit: James Stewart

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