Documentary sheds new light on search for Papa Stronsay monk

Details have emerged from the diary of a monk who disappeared from Papa Stronsay.

The efforts to find Justin Evans, who vanished from the island monastery in April, are featured in a new documentary series.

The next episode of Highland Cops gives a glimpse inside the investigation, featuring information that was not made public at the time.

The search ended in tragedy when the body of the New Zealander was found 25 days after he was reported lost from Golgotha Monastery.

The Orcadian reported last month that the case was officially closed, and “no further action” would be taken involving Mr Evans’ death.

Highland Cops follows the search around a week after the 24-year-old was reported missing.

“Initially it came in as a concern for him — that he was not able to be located anywhere on the island,” says PC Piotr Kampinowski.

He is one of the officers who the documentary team follow in the programme.

Along with a colleague, the officers charter a boat to Papa Stronsay to gather further information.

“We’ve been tasked with looking over any sort of correspondence that he might have received, any journals, writings of his,” PC Kampinowski explains.

“Speaking with pretty much all of the brothers there — getting statements from them just to get the full picture of exactly what has occurred.”

At the pier, the police were met by Father Anthony Mary, vicar general of The Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer. He gives the police access to their electronic devices.

The officers find a digital diary that Mr Evans kept — a “daily log of his feelings and views on theology,” as PC Kampinowski describes it.

“It really helps us to see a very personal account of where his mind space was just prior to him going missing,” the constable continues.

The diary describes a “sensitive soul” and how Mr Evans’ past was “very much weighing on him and he is repentant.”

Of most interest to the officer was the days leading up to when he went missing, around midnight on Saturday, April 11.

“That’s where we can see that he has had plans for the future,” PC Kampinowski says.

The 24-year-old was talking about a mass he was planning to attend, and future meetings with a father in the group.

“From what we’re learning from the journal and the accounts of all the monks in the days leading up to his disappearance, none of it suggests poor mental health,” PC Kampinowski adds.

“There’s nothing to suggest that he was in a bad state of mind or making any sort of plans to self-harm or to suddenly disappear, or the worst case scenario take his own life.”

Another officer involved in the search, PS Ross Masson, also features in the documentary.

He describes how clothes belonging to Mr Evans were found by the monks on a beach, soon after the New Zealander went missing.

“They’ve found different items of clothing at different points on the island. They’re all covered in sand,” PS Masson continues.

Among the discoveries was a cord, which he says is a significant item for The Sons.

Members receive the cord after spending a certain amount of time in Papa Stronsay, and are not supposed to take it off, PS Masson explains.

The sergeant adds: “For us, as the police, to recover this — it potentially means that something’s happened to him or that maybe he wasn’t in the right place of mind with the monastery.”

Over two weeks in, a police boat and dive team joined the search for Mr Evans.

By this stage, with no evidence that Mr Evans left Papa Stronsay, officers thought it was more likely that they were looking for his body.

Highland Cops follows officers from the Marine Policing Unit, who left from Kirkwall on Tuesday, April 28.

The specialist team scour a shallow loch in Papa Stronsay — which had not yet been searched — and then go underwater around the coastline.

However, it would be Wednesday, May 6, before a body was spotted.

A member of the public made the tragic find in waters off Stronsay. The remains were later confirmed as that of Mr Evans.

He was buried in Papa Stronsay on May 13, with members of his family in attendance.

In a web post about the service, The Sons said he was presumed to have drowned at sea, but that the “circumstances of his disappearance and death remain shrouded in mystery.”

“He is remembered very fondly by all who knew him, and will be sorely missed,” the post continues.

• Episode four of Highland Cops series four airs on BBC Scotland on Sunday, November 15, at 9pm.