On Friday, ten years would have passed since the disappearance of Timmy MacColl, but no queue or suspect tells or gives an answer to what happened to him. 

On May 27, 2012, of 27-year-old British sailor stepped out of a cafe in Dubai and took a cab for Port Rashid, where his warship HMS Westminster was docked. He was never seen again.

It’s been ten years, and the mystery still remains unsolved. 

After two years of disappearance, the father of three was officially announced dead, assumed drowned, by the UK’s Royal Navy, despite objections from his family. 

Ahead of the 10th anniversary of Timmy’s disappearance, his mother, ‘Sheena MacColl’, has demanded a fresh investigation into the incident and stated that someone knows what happened to her son.  

“We still haven’t got closure. I believe some people know what happened to Timmy. I do not believe he fell in the water as there was a safety net around his ship,” Sheena, 58, told in her interview over the phone from the UK.

The children of Timmy’s are grown up now. They need answers. There are many proofs. Someone definitely knows something, but he/she is not coming forward for whatever reason. I know Timmy. He was my son. He would not have put us through this if he was still alive. I am appealing to people who have information to come forward. The Royal Navy also thought that he died by drowning. If this were true, then where is his body? And his body was never found, added Sheena, who works as a sales assistant. 

The Leading Seaman from Scotland was last seen getting into a cab outside the Rock.

Bottom Café, then located in Bur Dubai, around 2 am on May 27, 2012.

The café has now migrated.

According to Timmy’s shipmates that he was headed to his ship. But he never made it on board. 

The Royal Navy informed him that he was missing the same day. An investigation was thereafter launched by Dubai Police and UK authorities.

Hours of CCTV footage were examined. The cabbie, who picked Timmy, was questioned, and divers, dogs and helicopters searched the port area for days.

When the massive search yielded no result, a British Royal Navy minesweeper, equipped with hi-tech cameras and sensors, was pressed into service along the coastline, but nothing turned up.

Over the next few weeks, scores of leads were pursued, but none panned out.

In June 2012, Timmy’s wife Rachel, then pregnant with daughter Eriskay, came to Dubai with Sheena seeking answers. But with the case making little headway, they went back. Rachel returned to Dubai in January 2013. But this time, too, she couldn’t find any new information.

In April 2014, Timmy was declared dead by the UK Royal Navy. They believed he fell into the sea while boarding the ship and drowned, and his body was dragged away after being caught in the propeller blade of another vessel. However, Timmy’s body was never found, and his mother says she’s yet to get closure.