dubai On May 27 it will be one year since British Royal Navy sailor Timmy MacColl, 27, went missing in Dubai. Since then, scores of leads have been chased but none has panned out. Investigators have questioned dozens of witnesses, examined hours of CCTV footage and even scoured the seabed, yet Timmy’s fate remains unknown.
Instead, questions about the befuddling case seem to have only multiplied. On the first anniversary of Timmy’s disappearance XPRESS dissects three of the most plausible theories behind Dubai’s biggest unsolved mystery,
1 Timmy fell into the sea and drowned
What lends it credibility: Timmy was heavily drunk when he left the Rock Bottom Café at 2.10am and took a cab for Port Rashid where his ship HMS Westminster was docked. It’s quite possible he fell into the sea as he was boarding the ship and drowned and his body was dragged away after being caught in the propeller blade of another vessel or the HMS Westminster itself when it sailed the following day.
What goes against it: Timmy’s body was never found when British Royal Navy ship HMS Middleton swept Dubai’s coast using hi-tech cameras and sensors in July.
Sea currents wash everything onto shore. If he’d drowned, his body would have washed ashore.
Port Rashid has security fences and sentry points. Given its layout, it’s unlikely that someone could fall into the sea here.
2 Kidnapped or murdered
What lends it credibility: CCTV footage of Timmy leaving Rock Bottom café was the key to the investigation. But now it appears that the man caught on camera is not Timmy, His wife Rachel, 26, and policeman uncle Neil Cunningham have disputed the CCTV footage. “It’s not my husband…I know what he looks like, how he stands. The CCTV might not be clear, but I know what he was wearing... his mannerisms... I am the one person in the world who can identify who he is,” said Rachel. So could it be that he picked an argument with someone and got killed or is being held captive?
What goes against it: It is highly improbable that someone would have killed Timmy. He had come to Dubai just days back and hardly knew anyone here let alone have enemies. If he were kidnapped for money, there would have been a ransom demand.
3 Timmy went AWOL (Absent Without Official Leave) of his own volition
What lends it credibility: The walkaway theory may look highly unlikely but it is something that cannot be ruled out. What drums up the speculation that he staged his own disapperance is the fact that he sent back his credit card with his shipmates before parting ways with them at the Dubai Seafarer’s Mission on his last day in Dubai. Why would he do that? Could it be that he wanted to break all contacts and start life anew?
What goes against it: The world isn’t that big anymore for someone to vanish. Technology would have caught up him by now. It is impossible for someone to survive for so long with no access to finances. Timmy’s relatives claim he was very close to his family and would never do anything like that.
THE STORY SO FAR
• May 17: Timothy Andrew MacColl alias Timmy arrives in Dubai onboard warship HMS Westminster
• May 19: Calls wife Rachael in UK to wish her a happy sixth wedding anniversary.
• May 24: Spends the day at Atlantis, plays rugby in Sharjah later in the evening
• May 26: Visits Ducati Café at Dubai Mall to meet motorsporting hero Nicky Hayden before heading to Rock Bottom Café at 11.50 pm
• May 27: Boards a cab outside Rock Bottom Café at 1.40 am.
