The death of Josh Clayton, tragic accident or something sinister?

https://metro.co.uk/2024/12/26/heart-breaking-mystery-a-young-man-died-paradise-island-22243567/

Josh Clayton worked as a barman on the luxury island of Tresco in the Isles of Scilly. It's the place to go for the rich and famous, not to mention several members of the Royal Family. Near the end of his second season on the island, he went to a party hosted by Tristan Dorrien-Smith, wealthy son of island landlord Robert. The bash was held in a large green Shed (literally known as 'The Shed') far away from the fancy restaurants and hotels at the centre of Tresco. Josh spent several hours at the venue before leaving around 1.30am ahead of a 7am shift at the café. It was a rainy night with a new moon out, meaning there was no natural light at all on the tree-lined paths which led from the Shed to the staff accommodation.

It was suggested he could have gone into the sea of his own accord – either as a result of suicidal thoughts or an extreme reaction to drugs.

This is something his mum Tracey has never believed. Just hours before her son headed to the Shed, he had called her and expressed excitement at plans to move to Japan with his boyfriend once his season at Tresco was over. In terms of drugs, he was known to occasionally smoke cannabis, but he never did anything stronger to her knowledge.

‘At the beginning they kept saying he was basically a drugged up drunk,’ Tracey, 60, recalls of the early police investigation into her son’s disappearance. ‘It was like the police were trying to belittle how much I knew and loved my son.

‘Josh knew the island like the back of his hand and had come up with a buddy system to encourage people to walk home with another person to stay safe. He was also very conscious of how the island itself worked, if you were half an hour late [to a shift] they would deduct the whole morning [‘s pay]. It was very draconian like that. Josh in no way would have wanted to be late for work.

The next morning, the usually-diligent worker Josh was a no-show for his shift. Messages were frantically sent between his friends on an island group Whatsapp chat called ‘The Raft’ and a search was launched. His bike – with its saddle twisted 180 degrees the wrong way and the pedal caked in mud – was discovered in a hedge on a trail near The Shed. His personal belongings, a portable phone charger and an unopened pack of Lambert and Butler cigarettes, were strewn across the forest floor. Josh’s phone, an iPhone 6, has never been found.

On September 23, after ten desperate days of searches, the young man’s body was found washed up on Teän, an uninhabited island less than a mile from Tresco, by a French yachtsman.

An investigation ensued and party-goers were interviewed about Josh’s behaviour on September 13, 2015. They said he seemed ‘capable’ and not overly drunk. Toxicology tests showed he was 2.5 times the legal drink-drive limit at his time of death.

At an inquest, jurors at Plymouth Coroner’s Court ruled Josh’s death was an accident which could have been caused by a head injury. Their conclusion stated: ‘We believe Josh made his way onto the beach … as a result Josh suffered either dry drowning, traditional drowning or possibly being unable to exit the water.’

The Clayton family have spent upwards of £67,000 in legal costs and in hiring a private investigator in their pursuit of more information about Josh’s death. They point to flaws in the police investigation after his passing, such as the fact a bloody t-shirt he’d been wearing was destroyed without being examined and the fact one witness – who claimed to have seen Josh have an argument outside the Shed – had five ‘different’ accounts of the same story.