THE mother of missing student Jack O'Sullivan has revealed she spent six days believing he was dead - after a body was washed up on a beach.

Speaking ahead of the first anniversary of his mysterious disappearance, Catherine O'Sullivan said they were told by police that remains of a man matching her son's description had been found.

She then spent nearly a week waiting for confirmation before receiving a phone call to reveal it wasn't him.

But she has now criticised the length of time the family were left in limbo and claimed they police didn't even start the DNA process for the first few days.

Avon and Somerset Police said the DNA process was 'fast-tracked' and officers provided as many updates as they could.

Catherine, 53, of Flax Bourton, near Bristol, said: "Early in the new year we had a phone call to say some remains had been found on a beach in Wales and we strongly felt they were leaning towards this being Jack. It felt very significant.

"It was six days of utter torture while they tried to work out if it was Jack before it turned out it was obviously not.

"We were given a description and it fitted everything - height, age, range - that Jack fitted into but they said the could not be conclusive until DNA analysis. We found out after a few days the process had not even started. “

Catherine said the were first told on Saturday, January 4, and not given the follow up news until the following Friday.

But so far they have found no trace or clues to shed light on Jack's disappearance.

And Catherine said they were treating the anniversary of when he was last seen on Sunday as "just another day."

She added: "For me it is just another day - now every day for us is hell and it won't be any more significant from the first day he went missing.

"It has been a whole year and we have no idea what happened to him. We are still completely none the wiser. We get messages of hoaxes, ransoms, people telling me the have got him - but nothing has ever been proven.”

Avon and Somerset Police said: "We contacted Jack's family on Saturday, January 4, to inform them that a body had been located at Stout Bay, in Wales.

"Detectives worked with colleagues at South Wales Police to fast-track the DNA process to identify the remains and provide answers to the family.

"We were able to provide an update to the family on Friday, January 10, in which we were able to confirm the remains were not Jack's. During this six-day period, the Superintendent overseeing the investigation made contact with the family on several occasions to give what update we could."