Michele Bourda, 59, vanished on August 1 in Greece while her husband Chris slept on a beach – today he revealed police officers had finally located his wife’s body
A British woman who vanished from a sunbed on a beach in Greece has been found dead by police, her grieving husband has revealed.
Michele Bourda, 59, suddenly disappeared in the Greek city of Kavala on August 1 while her husband Chris, 66, slept on Ofrynio beach. Reports suggest her belongings were left on the beach, and when Chris awoke, she was nowhere to be found. The couple, from Glasgow, were on a two-week holiday and had gone for a swim before taking a nap on some nearby sun loungers. Chris today revealed police officers had finally located his wife’s body on a small, privately owned island called Fidonisi – roughly 40km from the coast where she was last seen, MailOnline reports.
The body is yet to be formally identified, but police believe it to be that of Michele due to the tankini she was wearing when she vanished last month. Chris said her body was found without a head, half-naked and partially eaten by fish. Officers told Mr Bourda over a call this afternoon that they are “99% sure” it is her.
Chris said: “They have found her body. Sadly I was expecting this. The problem is the harbour police did not start their search until late at night and I don’t know what effect that had. They said they couldn’t find her, they claimed she had disappeared with an unknown man, but this was rubbish.
“I think the harbour police really didn’t do anything and next time something happens like this they should think about it. It shouldn’t take them three hours to write up a missing person’s report before starting the search.
“They said there were no signs she had drowned, that there was no body, that she was following someone else. But I knew this was not the case. She would not have gone off without her money, her glasses or her medication.”
Chris previously detailed his final moments with Michele, saying she had been “quite happy” the day before she disappeared. He said: “She had seemed quite happy that day. We went for a short swim as it was windy and there were a few waves. She then ordered a few crepes and said we could have a nice sleep after. Unfortunately, I fell asleep first and when I woke up she wasn’t there.”
He said Michele had suffered on and off from episodes of depression and anxiety over a number of years. The mum-of-one had briefly gone missing while the couple were living in London after she was made redundant and fell into a depressive episode. But thanks to the swift actions of police, Michele was located that night. She fell ill again in February but was recovering and had been in good spirits.
Slamming Greek Police for their lack of urgency, Chris said: “I had only been to the prosecution centre yesterday to complain about how the police and harbour police have handled this. It will be easy to see when I called the telephone line and how long they didn’t do anything for.
“She had psychological issues. I told them that from the start and they weren’t able to find her. It’s impossible. Nobody did anything to help. Even the chap who saw her in the sea, he lost sight of her.”
It comes after Chris told how he was laughed at when he frantically pleaded for help after noticing Michele had vanished from the sunbed. The panicked husband asked a waiter at a restaurant beside the beach if he had seen Michele, and claims he was mocked before eventually convincing a shopkeeper to call the police.
Chris said he did not see a single police officer on the beach they day his wife went missing – a claim echoed by a fellow hotel guest.
The Mirror has contacted Greek police and the Foreign Office for comment.