Friends of a man who died on holiday in Benidorm have launched a new bid to help his family get justice. The lifelong friends of dad-of-four Nathan Osman want to help the Pontypridd dad's family get answers.
It is now nearly two years since 30-year-old Nathan was found dead at the bottom of a 500ft cliff on the outskirts of the Spanish holiday resort on September 28, 2024. Despite the efforts of his family and friends, they feel police in Spain have never fully investigated all the potential lines of inquiry around phone data showing his last moments. The trip was his first-ever holiday abroad.
Abduction fears and unanswered questions
They believe the welder was abducted while walking alone to his hotel, where he was staying with friends, and being taken to a remote area in the opposite direction. They say attempts were made to use his bank card after his body was found and his movements would have been captured on CCTV.
Initially police ruled his death as accidental or potential suicide and only launched a homicide inquiry after being presented with information gathered by his family. The family have repeatedly raised concerns about the investigations carried out in Spain, saying they have been left alone to try and work out what happened themselves while facing a number of discrepancies.
Car rally to raise funds
His friends are now going to take part in a 1,400-mile car rally to drive to Benidorm in a £200 car to raise funds to support Nathan's family's efforts to ensure his death is fully investigated. Friends Lloyd Perry, Grant Williams, Jamie Williams, and Henry Jones say the family need help to fund their extortionate legal costs, solicitor fees and the costs of travelling back and forth to Benidorm.
The family has retrieved Mr Osman's phone from the Spanish police and say that his movements suggest he was in a vehicle and not walking or running. The cliff where he was found is to the east of Benidorm.
Friends remember Nathan
Lloyd said he had learned about the car rally to Benidorm through social media and it felt like the right thing to do. He said: "Obviously Nathan died in Benidorm in September 2024. I've seen it and it was September 2026, UK to Benidorm, and so I rung up my friends and within 10 minutes I'd sent through a deposit for the space and we were booked on. It was too much of a coincidence, we had to go and do it."
Lloyd and Grant went to primary and secondary school with Nathan, primary school in the Graig, Pontypridd, before attending Hawthorn High School. Grant's cousin Jamie is also joining, as is Lloyd's brother-in-law Henry. Lloyd, who works as a mechanic, added: "We've all been close for a long long time but we've never spent five days in a car together. It's going to be a bit cosy."
He remembered his friend as being someone who always had a smile on his face and said he lived for his four children. "He was just one of those people who had everything going for him," Lloyd said. "He was the kind of person who was everyone's friend. He always had a smile on his face, he was energetic, he lived for his four children. He was the kind of person who you'd ring up to ask a quick question and you'd be on the phone for two hours."
Family's heartbreak and rally plans
Speaking on the anniversary of Nathan's death, his mum Elizabeth spoke of how her son had "everything to live for" and had been "so excited" for the trip away as a break from working two jobs. She told the BBC "Our hearts are in pieces every day," said Mrs Osman. "We get up in the morning and it's a struggle and we don't know how we get from one day to the to the next, but we do it for our children and for our grandchildren. We've got no choice."
The family has also been campaigning for more support for families when a relative dies abroad. The charity banger rally will begin at the start of September and see 240 teams travel across Europe while stopping off along the way to take on Top Gear-style challenges.
Teams must decorate their old bangers while trying to keep the costs as low as possible. "We paid about £200 for the car and have done some mechanical work and decorating so it's come to just over £600," Lloyd said. The Pontypridd-based team chose to take inspiration from the Dumb and Dumber van to make sure they stand out as much as possible while driving through France and Spain. The entire vehicle has now been carpeted, which Lloyd admitted had made the car warmer and heavier than it had been before.
"We wanted to pick something that we thought was funny and we didn't think anyone else would do," he said. "We wanted it to be out there and flamboyant to draw as much attention as we can. We've managed to get the aircon working so hopefully we are alright."
The group are planning to split the driving between them and have opted to all share a room each night in order to cut costs. "We've never done anything like this before. I think it's going to be chaos to be honest. We're all really bad passengers. I've never been on a ferry because I'm really bad with boats. We're driving about 15,000 miles. I think it's going to be a bit of an experience."
