Scottish man dies after 'jumping over wall' to 'steep drop' on stag-do leading to week long search
5 June 2025, 13:57
A Scottish man's body has been found after he seemingly 'jumped over a wall' into a ravine on a Portuguese stag-do.
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Greg Monks, 38, from Glasgow arrived in the resort town of Albufeira, Algarve, for a night out last Tuesday as part of a stag do with friends.
Members of the group reportedly say he told them in the early hours of Wednesday morning he was heading back to their accommodation.
Search teams with sniffer dogs recovered the body at the bottom of a ravine on Wednesday.
Tributes flooded in about the "amazing guy" as residents offered CCTV footage of the incident.
“The GNR police force had requested help from the Polícia Judiciaria force, which confirmed yesterday the missing man’s body had been found," a police insider told The Sun.
“They then got given CCTV from one of the villas in the Cerro da Aguia areas, which enabled them to trace him jumping over a wall of a neighbouring property.
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“With that information, the searches were immediately moved to the scrubland below the houses.
“Sniffer dogs that were being used by the GNR were brought in again.
"When the dogs were put to work in the area, around 11am, they went straight to a bush where the missing man’s body was laying.”
Another police insider said: “The investigation into exactly how he died is ongoing.
“But all the evidence so far is pointing to the tourist losing all notion of where he was in a place he hadn’t been to before, and under the effects of alcohol jumping over a first wall into a private property and then a second wall in the back garden not realising there was a steep drop the other side.”
Police have since confirmed they found a body in the search for the missing Brit.
Greg’s girlfriend Nicole Kelso, as well as his mum and dad, travelled to Albufeira after he went missing.
His sister, Jillian, said his family were "truly heartbroken".
She continued: “Everyone who knows Greg knows how much he will be missed and what an amazing guy he was.”
Portuguese police have not yet released any official statement about why they think he died.
Police said in a statement: "The Judicial Police, through the Southern Directorate, with the collaboration of the GNR of Albufeira, located, today, in the Cerro de Águia area, in Albufeira, the body of a man who had been missing since May 28th.
"The disappearance of the 30-year-old British citizen was reported to the GNR in Albufeira on the 28th, at 8:00 pm, by another man who was accompanying him on holiday in that location.
"After several investigations and investigating the presumed route taken in the early hours of the aforementioned day, since the last sighting, the body was located on a vacant and very uneven terrain.
"After the competent judicial inspection has been carried out, the body will be removed to the area's Legal Medicine Office for an autopsy to be performed."
LBC previously spoke the Mr Monks' family, who flew out to Portugal to try and help aid search efforts.
His sister Jillian said: "My brother's a hard worker. He's worked since he's been 16, never been out a job, pays his taxes, works hard. I mean, he deserves to be fought for.
"He's a good person. He's an amazing uncle to our kids. He would never, ever do anything like this. He would never put his family and his girlfriend through this. I know if he could contact us, he would."
A spokesperson for the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office previously said: "We are supporting the family of a British man reported missing in Portugal and are in contact with the local authorities".
Commenting on the discovery, UK Minister Michael Shanks said: "Awful news from Portugal on the tragic death of my constituent Greg Monks. My thoughts are with his family and friends at this incredibly difficult time.
"The FCDO and Embassy are continuing to offer whatever support they can to the family as they bring him home."
