
Bombshell ‘confession' in murder of Brit found dead in well 12 years after vanishing on Crete holiday could crack case
BODY IN THE WELL
BODY IN THE WELL Bombshell 'confession' in murder of Brit found dead in well 12 years after vanishing on Crete holiday could crack case
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
A BRIT man has allegedly confessed to the murder of a fellow tourist who vanished on holiday 20 years ago.
The remains of Brit Steven Cook, 20, were found in a well in 2017 in Crete - 12 years after he vanished in 2005.
Sign up for Scottish Sun
newsletter
Sign up
8
Steven Cook's remains were found in a well in Crete 12 years after vanishing in 2005
Credit: Athena Picture Agency
8
On September 1, 2005, Steven Cook was out with pals on the first night of his holiday in Malia, Crete - but disappeared without a trace
Credit: PA:Press Association
8
A well was being fixed by workmen, who discovered the skeleton
Credit: NEAKRITI.GR
8
On September 1, 2005, Steven, from Cheshire, was out with pals on the first night of his holiday in Malia, Crete - but disappeared without a trace.
In February 2017, workers near a Malia cemetery found a human skeleton in an abandoned well.
Steven's family has been desperate for answers ever since - but a recent update might shed some light on Steven's death.
Nearly 20 years after Steven went missing, Cheshire police confirm there are developments in the investigation.
The holiday was Steven's first trip abroad and, despite being with his friends, he left a pub alone at the end of a night out.
The Brit was last seen in a bar asking for directions to his hotel, the Hotel Frixos, but walked off in the wrong direction at the end of a night out in the clubbing hotspot.
Grieving parents Norman and Pat, both 73, from Sandbach, even put up a 7,000 euro reward for information about their missing son.
It seemed that Steven had vanished off the face of the earth until 12 years later workers found a skeleton at the bottom of a well in Malia.
Personal items were found with the bones, including a piece of cloth, a belt and a disposable camera.
The remains were later confirmed to belong to Brit Steven Cook.
Now, seven years after the discovery, cops and prosecutors in Greece are probing an alleged confession alongside UK police.
According to Steven's family lawyer, Yiannis Konstantoudakis, an email was sent to Cheshire Police last year from the ex-wife of a 38-year-old British man.
Tragedy in Majorca: British Tourist Drowns Near Love Island Villa
She has claimed her ex confessed to killing Steven and revealed the horrifying details to her while under the influence of drugs.
She described how he got into a fight with a drunk young man in Malia in 2005.
After receiving a hit on the head, the victim died - and his body was thrown down a well.
The unknown woman claimed to have kept handwritten diary notes from that time, and even produced a silver bracelet with two beads on the end.
She claimed the piece of jewellery belonged to the victim.
Steven's grieving family didn't identify the jewellery.
After the missing Brit's body was discovered in 2017, it broke the 38-year-old man, his ex-wife claimed.
She claims he had a mental breakdown and threatened to take his own life.
He also required psychiatric evaluation, the ex-wife claimed.
8
The well is in a small structure near a cemetery in Malia
Credit: Athena Picture Agency
8
A missing person poster distributed after Steven Cook vanished
Credit: Athena Picture Agency
8
Police forensics officers by the outhouse where the well is located
Credit: Athena Picture Agency
The prosecutor in Heraklion, Crete, shared reservations about the large gap in time between the time Steven went missing and the 38-year-old Brit's ex-wife's claims - but considered them credible.
She added that it was not unusual for people under the influence of drugs or alcohol to make revelations about their lives they wouldn't have otherwise said.
The 38-year-old Brit has denied any involvement in Steven's death, according to local newspaper Parapolitika.
When appearing before British authorities, he reportedly claimed he wasn't in Crete in 2005.
He described his ex-wife's allegations as "lies".
In 2005 there were no systematic passport checks for citizens of the European Union while Great Britain belonged to it.
There is a recorded entry of the accused Brit into Greece in 2010 from the airport in Zakynthos.
Steven's family were informed of the developments through their lawyer.
Mr Konstantoudakis told The Sun of fears that the case could be thrown out in September if there are no major developments.
Cheshire Police told The Sun it "is aware of the developments in the investigation into the death of Steven Cook".
They added: "At this time, we are working closely with the Greek Authorities and Stevens family who are being supported by specialist officers."

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Herald Scotland
12 minutes ago
- The Herald Scotland
Ghislaine Maxwell: Trump says he wasn't told of move to Texas prison
Maxwell was moved in recent days from a low-security federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, to a minimum-security federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas. Her new home also houses Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and celebrity housewife Jen Shah. Trump did say that anything requested by his deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, "would be totally appropriate." Blanche, who represented Trump personally in his 2024 New York criminal trial, interviewed Maxwell in Tallahassee, Florida, though it's unclear what exactly came of the closed-door discussions. The government hasn't released transcripts from the interviews or revealed whether it will result in increased justice for Epstein's and Maxwell's victims. "It's not a very uncommon thing," Trump added of Maxwell's move. But not everyone agrees with that characterization. "It's a country club," former federal prison warden Robert Hood told the Washington Post of Maxwell's new home. "Inmates, if they have a sex offense, are not going to a place like that, period. It's truly unheard of." Blanche interviewed Maxwell as the Justice Department has tried to quell public outrage over its decision not to release the FBI's investigative files on Jeffrey Epstein, who died awaiting his federal sex-trafficking trial in 2019. Maxwell, the daughter of a prominent British media mogul, Robert Maxwell, was convicted in 2021 of sex trafficking a minor. Her seemingly favorable prison move outraged victims and their family members. "President Trump has sent a clear message today: Pedophiles deserve preferential treatment and their victims do not matter," the surviving siblings of Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, who died by suicide in April, said in a statement along with Epstein victim Annie Farmer and her sister, Maria Farmer. Trump was friends with Epstein for many years, and socialized with both the disgraced financier and Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's ex-girlfriend. The friendship ended around 2004. Epstein pleaded guilty in 2008 to two Florida state prostitution crimes and was arrested by federal authorities in 2019 on sex-trafficking charges. New York's chief medical examiner ruled that his death that year in a Manhattan federal jail was a suicide. Contributing: Josh Meyer, USA TODAY


Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
Girl, 9, attacked and 'dragged under water' by sea lion while learning to surf
Corale Olsen, aged nine, has told how she was "screaming" after being bitten by an angry sea lion while at a surfing camp at Asilomar State Beach, Monterey County, in California A nine-year-old girl learning to surf was attacked and dragged under the water by a sea lion. Corale Olsen told how she was in 'pain' and was 'screaming' when the angry sea lion bit her while she was in the sea off Asilomar State Beach, Monterey County, in California. She was attending a surf camp with her brother and sister when the sea lion acted aggressively which is very unusual and may have been because it was being territorial. "We were pretty deep in the ocean," Corale said. "So then, the sea lion went under my instructor's leg and then it came up to me and bit me, and then I got dragged underwater." She told ABC7 News: "It was pain and I was screaming and then my instructor said, 'What happened?' Then I said, 'I got bit and it hurts so bad'.' It comes after beachgoers were left stunned after a rare sea creature was spotted off British coast. At this point her instructor Alex De Marignac acted quickly and grabbed Corale along with her siblings before taking them to the beach where the youngster had treatment. 'I had two kids under each arm and one hanging off my neck, and yeah, we all made it,' Mr De Marignac said. Corale, who was pictured holding crutches, went to an emergency treatment room at the beach where she was found to have suffered bruising to a leg and puncture wounds from the bites by the sea lion. Her sister Skye told how worried she had been and tried to comfort Corale in the treatment room. 'I was very worried, honestly. I was in the room, and I was worried. So, I was telling her to calm down,' Skye told KSBW. And the instructor, Mr De Marignac, said this was the first time in his life he saw a sea lion attack like that. "I have surfed in these waters since I was about six-years-old. Never, ever seen something like that," he said. He believes the sea lion may have acted that way because it was territorial. "I think the rule of thumb is make sure to give animals their space. I think it's totally fine to be curious, but I'd say never get a better look by getting closer to the animal," he added. Sea lions are similar to seals but have slight differences such as being bigger and they have ear flaps. It hasn't put Corale off from going back into the sea as she said: "If something happens, that doesn't mean that you can't stop doing what you love."


Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
Teen boy fighting for his life after ‘hit-and-run' near to nursery as cops arrest 2 men on suspicion of attempted murder
CRASH HORROR Teen boy fighting for his life after 'hit-and-run' near to nursery as cops arrest 2 men on suspicion of attempted murder Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) TWO men have been arrested after a teenage boy was left in a "critical condition" following a hit-and-run. The teen was rushed to hospital with "serious head injuries" after the horror smash in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, on Monday night. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 The hit-and-run left the teen in a critical condition Emergency services were scrambled to the scene on College Road, in Shelton, at around 6.30pm. Cops confirmed an 18-year-old had been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and causing serious injury by dangerous driving. Another man, 20, was also arrested on suspicion of murder. Staffordshire Police said the pedestrian was in a "stable but critical condition" after he was taken to Royal Stoke University Hospital. A spokeswoman for the force said: "We have arrested two men after a car collided with a pedestrian in Stoke-on-Trent. "We were called at 6.30pm last night (August 4) to reports of a non-stop collision on College Road, Shelton, near to The Thomas Boughey Children's Centre. "A pedestrian, a teenage boy, was taken to hospital with serious head injuries. His condition is described as critical but stable. "The car, a dark blue BMW, has been recovered from near to Basford Park." West Midlands Ambulance Service said: "Two ambulances responded to the scene. "The pedestrian, a teenage boy, sustained serious injuries and received trauma care on scene before being alerted to Royal Stoke University Hospital for further emergency care." More to follow... For the latest news on this story keep checking back at The Sun Online is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video. Like us on Facebook at and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheSun.