2005
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Disappearence
UPDATE: 21/10
As the search for Steven goes into it's 8th week, the family still have not given up hope that they will bring him home.
Although the information generated from the Greek television programme 'The light at the end of the tunnel' has not yet led to anything conclusive, the show ran another appeal on Friday 14th October and they will continue to be a keen supporter of the Cook family's search for their beloved son, brother and uncle.
During the 7th week of Steve's disappearance his parents, Norman and Pat flew out to Crete to see for themselves the area in which Steve vanished.
As part of their search to find their son, Steve's parents travelled to every hospital on the island and also followed up another potential line of enquiry that Steve may have been taken to a psychiatric hospital as a result of him having had his drink spiked. After searching the psychiatric hospital, with assistance from the British embassy and Greek police, this potential cause of events has largely been discounted by the family.
Norman and Pat have also assisted the police in searching abandoned houses in a town called Amnissos near the Iraklion airport but sadly to no avail.
Despite them still having now firm clues as to Steve's whereabouts the family remain extremely upbeat and positive.
"After all of this time if something bad had happened to Steve he would have been found given the fact it's a tourist resort and well populated throughout most of the year" Says Tony, Steve's brother, "We have also seen with our own eyes that the terrain is very dry and tough, for example all of the graves in Crete are above ground, so this gives us hope that he is out there, alive, and we just need to locate him. He would have been found by now if this wasn't the case."
Tony continues "We can also largely discount the fact that he went into the sea of his own will, not only because he was a good kilometre or two inland when he was last seen, or even allowing for the fact that none of us in the family are particularly water lovers, but mainly because he would have turned up by now due to the tidal currents around the islands".
Although the family are understandably frustrated that they have no further clues to Steve's whereabouts they vow to never give up their hunt for their much loved brother and son. The memories of Steve's trip to the champions league final in Istanbul and the words to the Liverpool FC anthem, You'll never walk alone, are testament to this according to Chris, Steve's eldest brother.
"At half time, when we were losing 3-0 to Milan Steve just turned to me, grasped me by my shoulder and looking me hard in the eye and simply said 'believe! believe!' and now those words carry more meaning than anything. You can never give up or think of anything as a hopeless cause"
"Steve will know that we are searching for him and none of us will give up in our mission to find him because we truly believe that we'll all be a family once more. It's just a matter of time"
"Of course, we are coming to a period where there may be little value or practical use in our being over in Crete, having done everything we can, yet despite the thousands of miles that separate us we all know that Steve doesn't walk alone".
"Steve will know that too".
UPDATE: 10/10
The Friday 7th appearance of Chris on the Greek TV show, 'The light at the end of the tunnel' has generated quite a few leads including potential sightings which have been passed to the authorities on Crete and are being followed up at this time.
UPDATE: 05/10
As the search for Steve continues into it's fifth week the family and authorities still have no further evidence which points to Steve's whereabouts.
On Friday 7th October Steve's brother, Chris, will be appearing on a Greek national missing persons TV show 'The light at the end of the tunnel' appealing for further information regarding Steve's disappearance. It is understood that the programme has an extremely high success rate in finding missing persons and the family feel that it will be key in reaching that one person who knows of Steve's whereabouts.
As time goes on the family become more hopeful of the safe return of their beloved son and brother. Following appeals on GMTV and BBC Radio 1 there have been some new lines of enquiry which have been forwarded to the British consulate in Crete for the local authorities to follow up on.
Since Steve's situation has reached national attention the family have been inundated with offers of support, either in the distribution of posters throughout the UK or from English and Greek nationals who are travelling to or live in Crete.
Despite the amount of time that he has been missing everybody remains optimistic:
'When we first went to Crete there was a consensus that Steve may have gone swimming and although we discounted this at the time, the authorities now also believe that this is not the case after five weeks' says Chris, 'by the same token, as it is the hunting season and due to the extreme heat we expect that Steve would have been found inland if something untoward had happened'.
'This gives us all even more hope that he is out there, possibly injured, and is being looked after having wandering into the hills.'
'The local population are very family orientated and as I experienced myself, they take strangers as their own, treat them as family. Niklos and Maria at the Frixos Hotel were my second family whilst I was out there. They made sure I was fed and watered at a time when I didn't give a second thought to my own wellbeing. Cretians are good people with a sense of love and responsibility towards family. It was like having a second home whilst I was out there'
Such first hand experience makes the whole family comforted to Steve's plight.
'I honestly believe that despite the pain that our family is going through right now, that the utmost care and affection is being extended to our brother Steve' Chris continues.
'We just have to let whoever is looking after him know that now is the time that he is needed back with his family. That is why going on national television is so important. If he is still ill, or suffering from concussion or memory loss, then he needs professional care and should be taken to a hospital if he is not already in one'
However, this does not mean that those who have been looking after Steve will go without recognition or heartfelt thanks from the family.
'Before every football match that myself and Steve go to we sing that 'you'll never walk alone' and anybody that has helped Steven through this difficult time will be considered part of the family. Not just as part of the Cook family but part of the family and friends of the thousands that have helped throughout the world, whichever way they can, to bring our son, brother and friend home'.
'To us they will be beyond heroes. We just need to let them know.'
The events
31 Aug 2005
Just before 20:30 Steve and his friends set off from the Frixos hotel on an organised bar crawl.
20:30 Arrived at the 'Banana Bar'
21:00 they moved onto 'Babylon'
21:40 they moved onto 'Exodus'
22:20 they moved onto 'Midway'
23:00 they went to 'Liquid'
23:40 they went to 'Camelot'
They were then scheduled to go onto 'Factory' at 00.20 and at 1.00 go to 'Club UK' where they would remain for the rest of the night.
Roughly around midnight Steve and his friend, Andy, whom were sharing a room, decided to head back to their hotel for a sleep. They were also considering getting some food.
On the way back up the street they were approached by a PR who told them they could get a pint in his bar for just one euro. This was in the proximity of the 'Royal Oak' (the lads had eaten at the Oak earlier in the day) but on the opposite side of the street.
Deciding to have one last pint Steve and Andy went in.
The bar was extremely busy and this is where the two lost contact with each other.
Not being able to locate Steve, Andy went back to either the 'Camelot' or 'Factory' to meet up with the group they had left earlier. This was at around 00.40.
Between 00.30 and 1.00 Steve was seen outside of Mike's Pub at the top of the street asking a PR girl called Rebecca for directions to the Frixos. Not being able to help him, Rebecca saw Steve then head left (in the opposite direction of the Frixos) on the main street towards Sisi.
He has not been seen since, would only have had around 30-40 euros left and is known to have had only one bank card on his person at the time. No cash has been taken out of his account since his disappearance. He had also left his mobile phone in his room.
As the search for Steven goes into it's 8th week, the family still have not given up hope that they will bring him home.
Although the information generated from the Greek television programme 'The light at the end of the tunnel' has not yet led to anything conclusive, the show ran another appeal on Friday 14th October and they will continue to be a keen supporter of the Cook family's search for their beloved son, brother and uncle.
During the 7th week of Steve's disappearance his parents, Norman and Pat flew out to Crete to see for themselves the area in which Steve vanished.
As part of their search to find their son, Steve's parents travelled to every hospital on the island and also followed up another potential line of enquiry that Steve may have been taken to a psychiatric hospital as a result of him having had his drink spiked. After searching the psychiatric hospital, with assistance from the British embassy and Greek police, this potential cause of events has largely been discounted by the family.
Norman and Pat have also assisted the police in searching abandoned houses in a town called Amnissos near the Iraklion airport but sadly to no avail.
Despite them still having now firm clues as to Steve's whereabouts the family remain extremely upbeat and positive.
"After all of this time if something bad had happened to Steve he would have been found given the fact it's a tourist resort and well populated throughout most of the year" Says Tony, Steve's brother, "We have also seen with our own eyes that the terrain is very dry and tough, for example all of the graves in Crete are above ground, so this gives us hope that he is out there, alive, and we just need to locate him. He would have been found by now if this wasn't the case."
Tony continues "We can also largely discount the fact that he went into the sea of his own will, not only because he was a good kilometre or two inland when he was last seen, or even allowing for the fact that none of us in the family are particularly water lovers, but mainly because he would have turned up by now due to the tidal currents around the islands".
Although the family are understandably frustrated that they have no further clues to Steve's whereabouts they vow to never give up their hunt for their much loved brother and son. The memories of Steve's trip to the champions league final in Istanbul and the words to the Liverpool FC anthem, You'll never walk alone, are testament to this according to Chris, Steve's eldest brother.
"At half time, when we were losing 3-0 to Milan Steve just turned to me, grasped me by my shoulder and looking me hard in the eye and simply said 'believe! believe!' and now those words carry more meaning than anything. You can never give up or think of anything as a hopeless cause"
"Steve will know that we are searching for him and none of us will give up in our mission to find him because we truly believe that we'll all be a family once more. It's just a matter of time"
"Of course, we are coming to a period where there may be little value or practical use in our being over in Crete, having done everything we can, yet despite the thousands of miles that separate us we all know that Steve doesn't walk alone".
"Steve will know that too".
UPDATE: 10/10
The Friday 7th appearance of Chris on the Greek TV show, 'The light at the end of the tunnel' has generated quite a few leads including potential sightings which have been passed to the authorities on Crete and are being followed up at this time.
UPDATE: 05/10
As the search for Steve continues into it's fifth week the family and authorities still have no further evidence which points to Steve's whereabouts.
On Friday 7th October Steve's brother, Chris, will be appearing on a Greek national missing persons TV show 'The light at the end of the tunnel' appealing for further information regarding Steve's disappearance. It is understood that the programme has an extremely high success rate in finding missing persons and the family feel that it will be key in reaching that one person who knows of Steve's whereabouts.
As time goes on the family become more hopeful of the safe return of their beloved son and brother. Following appeals on GMTV and BBC Radio 1 there have been some new lines of enquiry which have been forwarded to the British consulate in Crete for the local authorities to follow up on.
Since Steve's situation has reached national attention the family have been inundated with offers of support, either in the distribution of posters throughout the UK or from English and Greek nationals who are travelling to or live in Crete.
Despite the amount of time that he has been missing everybody remains optimistic:
'When we first went to Crete there was a consensus that Steve may have gone swimming and although we discounted this at the time, the authorities now also believe that this is not the case after five weeks' says Chris, 'by the same token, as it is the hunting season and due to the extreme heat we expect that Steve would have been found inland if something untoward had happened'.
'This gives us all even more hope that he is out there, possibly injured, and is being looked after having wandering into the hills.'
'The local population are very family orientated and as I experienced myself, they take strangers as their own, treat them as family. Niklos and Maria at the Frixos Hotel were my second family whilst I was out there. They made sure I was fed and watered at a time when I didn't give a second thought to my own wellbeing. Cretians are good people with a sense of love and responsibility towards family. It was like having a second home whilst I was out there'
Such first hand experience makes the whole family comforted to Steve's plight.
'I honestly believe that despite the pain that our family is going through right now, that the utmost care and affection is being extended to our brother Steve' Chris continues.
'We just have to let whoever is looking after him know that now is the time that he is needed back with his family. That is why going on national television is so important. If he is still ill, or suffering from concussion or memory loss, then he needs professional care and should be taken to a hospital if he is not already in one'
However, this does not mean that those who have been looking after Steve will go without recognition or heartfelt thanks from the family.
'Before every football match that myself and Steve go to we sing that 'you'll never walk alone' and anybody that has helped Steven through this difficult time will be considered part of the family. Not just as part of the Cook family but part of the family and friends of the thousands that have helped throughout the world, whichever way they can, to bring our son, brother and friend home'.
'To us they will be beyond heroes. We just need to let them know.'
The events
31 Aug 2005
Just before 20:30 Steve and his friends set off from the Frixos hotel on an organised bar crawl.
20:30 Arrived at the 'Banana Bar'
21:00 they moved onto 'Babylon'
21:40 they moved onto 'Exodus'
22:20 they moved onto 'Midway'
23:00 they went to 'Liquid'
23:40 they went to 'Camelot'
They were then scheduled to go onto 'Factory' at 00.20 and at 1.00 go to 'Club UK' where they would remain for the rest of the night.
Roughly around midnight Steve and his friend, Andy, whom were sharing a room, decided to head back to their hotel for a sleep. They were also considering getting some food.
On the way back up the street they were approached by a PR who told them they could get a pint in his bar for just one euro. This was in the proximity of the 'Royal Oak' (the lads had eaten at the Oak earlier in the day) but on the opposite side of the street.
Deciding to have one last pint Steve and Andy went in.
The bar was extremely busy and this is where the two lost contact with each other.
Not being able to locate Steve, Andy went back to either the 'Camelot' or 'Factory' to meet up with the group they had left earlier. This was at around 00.40.
Between 00.30 and 1.00 Steve was seen outside of Mike's Pub at the top of the street asking a PR girl called Rebecca for directions to the Frixos. Not being able to help him, Rebecca saw Steve then head left (in the opposite direction of the Frixos) on the main street towards Sisi.
He has not been seen since, would only have had around 30-40 euros left and is known to have had only one bank card on his person at the time. No cash has been taken out of his account since his disappearance. He had also left his mobile phone in his room.
