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Foul play has been ruled out in the death of Michael Mosley – as CCTV footage appears to show him falling over close to where his body was found.

WARNING: This article contains descriptions of his last moments which some readers might find distressing

There were no injuries on the TV doctor’s body that could have caused his death, according to Greek police sources.

CCTV footage appeared to show him falling over close to where his body was found in Agia Marina on the island of Symi – and clearly shows that no one was with him.

His time of death was around 4pm on Wednesday, very soon after he fell.

Two and a half hours earlier at about 1.30pm he had left friends on Agios Nikolaos beach to go for a walk before going missing.

The cause of death can only be determined once the toxicology report is back.

Footage found by a beach bar at Agia Marina shows what appears to be the 67-year-old making his way down a rocky slope close to a fence before he falls out of view.

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Agia Marina bar manager Ilias Tsavaris, 38, told Sky News correspondent Sadiya Chowdhury in Symi the CCTV shows Mosley walking along the perimeter.

“Over there in the mountains, like 30m from the place where we found him, he started crawling a little. And then the distance of 30m, which a normal person could do in two minutes or five minutes, took him half an hour or more,” he said.

“So he’s still crawling over and then he fell, passed out exactly in the place where we found him.”

Michael Mosley.
Pic:bl/Shutterstock
Image:
Michael Mosley.
Pic:bl/Shutterstock

A direction sign on a rocky path in the hills of Pedi.
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A rocky path in the hills of Pedi. Pic: PA

His widow Dr Clare Bailey Mosley said he “very nearly made it” to safety.

She said Mosley – who went missing on Wednesday after leaving his wife and friends at Agios Nikolaos beach to walk back to their hotel – appeared to have undertaken an “incredible climb, took the wrong route and collapsed where he couldn’t be easily seen” by search and rescue teams.

Tributes have poured in for the doctor who made popular the 5:2 diet and championed public health.

Mosley first trained as a doctor in London before moving into the world of media, becoming a presenter, documentary maker, author and columnist.

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Who was Michael Mosley?

His body was discovered by a cameraman on Sunday morning after a widespread search by emergency services operating in dangerous conditions and high temperatures.

He had been missing for four days and police said they believed he had walked north from Pedi marina in the direction of Agia beach.

His wife raised the alarm after he failed to return.

His four children also arrived on the island to help search for their father as the focus shifted to a snake-infested mountainous area after CCTV footage on Saturday emerged of his then last known movements.

It showed him on Wednesday making his way through the small fishing village of Pedi heading up into the remote rocky terrain.

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This image of Mosley was shared in a local Facebook group appeal

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CCTV of Mosley on day he went missing

Read more:
Mosley’s body found metres from safety
Who was Michael Mosley?

Mr Tsavaris was the person sent to check if what local cameraman Antonios saw was indeed the doctor’s body.

He told Chowdhury: “Without saying anything I went outside the fence and as soon as I turned my head on the left, I saw something. I went up close, really close to the man. I saw the body.

“You don’t see these kinds of things every day, especially on a small island and a small place like this. So it was not the best feeling.”

He said he has not been able to eat since yesterday, adding his thoughts are with Dr Mosley’s children who he said had followed their father’s perceived footsteps two days earlier and searched just metres away from where his body was eventually found.

“The whole family came here still searching. They had some water to get some rest. And then they continued searching, walking. But they took the path back on the opposite side.”

He told of how close Dr Mosley’s children had come to finding their father.

“If they walked for five minutes, probably,” he said.

“I don’t know if that’s a bad thing or a good thing, because I cannot imagine his family that’s here to see what I saw. And believe me, what I saw, it’s… I cannot describe. It was not a good thing to see.”

A coastguard boat took the body to Rhodes for a post-mortem
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A coastguard boat took the body to Rhodes for a post-mortem

Dr Michael Mosley died on the Greek island of Symi. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Pic: Reuters

Mosley’s body was found about 50m from the closest jetty and the resort’s northern sunbeds – and taken to Rhodes by the Greek coastguard for a post-mortem and formal identification.

The coroner’s office in Rhodes confirmed to Chowdhury an autopsy has been completed.

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The news has sparked an outpouring of grief from his loved ones and fans, with friends and colleagues praising him for innovating the world of science and health broadcasting.

Chris van Tulleken, Mosley’s co-presenter on BBC series Trust Me, I’m A Doctor, said broadcasting can be “very competitive and a bit cut-throat” but Mosley “created this generous idea that we were all in this together and so he was endlessly helpful off screen as well”.

He added: “There’s so much of his content I just consumed as a normal consumer. I enjoyed it, it entertained me while I was listening, and then it quietly changed my daily practices. So my own personal medical routine every day is very, very based on the work of Michael Mosley over the last 10-15 years.”

Downing Street said Mosley was an “extraordinary broadcaster” who had a “huge impact” on people’s lives.

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No 10 backs Chancellor Rachel Reeves and says she ‘is going nowhere’ after tearful appearance in Commons

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No 10 backs Chancellor Rachel Reeves and says she 'is going nowhere' after tearful appearance in Commons

Rachel Reeves has not offered her resignation and is “going nowhere”, Downing Street has said, following her tearful appearance in the House of Commons.

A Number 10 spokesperson said the chancellor had the “full backing” of Sir Keir Starmer, despite Ms Reeves looking visibly upset during Prime Minister’s Questions.

Politics latest: ‘A moment of intense peril’ for PM

A spokesperson for the chancellor later clarified that Ms Reeves had been affected by a “personal matter” and would be working out of Downing Street this afternoon.

Politics latest: Reeves looks visibly upset in Commons

UK government bond prices fell by the most since October 2022, and the pound tumbled after Ms Reeves’s Commons appearance, while the yield on the 10-year government bond, or gilt, rose as much as 22 basis points at one point to around 4.68%.

Downing Street’s insistence came despite Sir Keir refusing to guarantee that Ms Reeves would stay as chancellor until the next election following the fallout from the government’s recent welfare U-turn.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch branded the chancellor the “human shield” for the prime minister’s “incompetence” just hours after he was forced to perform a humiliating U-turn over his controversial welfare bill.

Emotional Reeves a painful watch – and reminder of tough decisions ahead

It is hard to think of a PMQs like it – it was a painful watch.

The prime minister battled on, his tone assured, even if his actual words were not always convincing.

But it was the chancellor next to him that attracted the most attention.

Rachel Reeves looked visibly upset.

It is hard to know for sure right now what was going on behind the scenes, the reasons – predictable or otherwise – why she appeared to be emotional, but it was noticeable and it was difficult to watch.

To read more of Ali Fortescue’s analysis, click here

Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Ms Badenoch said: “This man has forgotten that his welfare bill was there to plug a black hole created by the chancellor. Instead they’re creating new ones.”

Turning to the chancellor, the Tory leader added: “[She] is pointing at me – she looks absolutely miserable.

“Labour MPs are going on the record saying that the chancellor is toast, and the reality is that she is a human shield for his incompetence. In January, he said that she would be in post until the next election. Will she really?”

Not fully answering the question, the prime minister replied: “[Ms Badenoch] certainly won’t.

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Welfare vote ‘a blow to the prime minister’

“I have to say, I’m always cheered up when she asks me questions or responds to a statement because she always makes a complete mess of it and shows just how unserious and irrelevant they are.”

Mrs Badenoch interjected: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”

The prime minister’s watered-down Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill, aimed at saving £5bn, was backed by a majority of 75 in a tense vote on Tuesday evening.

A total of 49 Labour MPs voted against the bill – the largest rebellion in a prime minister’s first year in office since 47 MPs voted against Tony Blair’s Lone Parent benefit in 1997, according to Professor Phil Cowley from Queen Mary University.

After multiple concessions made due to threats of a Labour rebellion, many MPs questioned what they were voting for as the bill had been severely stripped down.

They ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to Universal Credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.

Ms Badenoch said the climbdown was proof that Sir Keir was “too weak to get anything done”.

Read more:
The PM faced down his party on welfare and lost
Labour welfare cuts ‘Dickensian’, says rebel MP

Ms Reeves has also borne a lot of the criticism over the handling of the vote, with some MPs believing that her strict approach to fiscal rules has meant she has approached the ballooning welfare bill from the standpoint of trying to make savings, rather than getting people into work.

Experts have now warned that the welfare U-turn, on top of reversing the cut to winter fuel, means that tax rises in the autumn are more likely – with Ms Reeves now needing to find £5bn to make up for the policy U-turns.

Asked by Ms Badenoch whether he could rule out further tax rises – something Labour promised it would not do on working people in its manifesto – Sir Keir said: “She knows that no prime minister or chancellor ever stands at the despatch box and writes budgets in the future.

“But she talks about growth, for 14 years we had stagnation, and that is what caused the problem.”

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Prosecutors consider more charges against Lucy Letby

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Prosecutors consider more charges against Lucy Letby

Prosecutors are considering whether to bring further criminal charges against Lucy Letby over the deaths of babies at two hospitals where she worked

The Crown Prosecution Service said it had received “a full file of evidence from Cheshire Constabulary asking us to consider further allegations in relation to deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital”.

“We will now carefully consider the evidence to determine whether any further criminal charges should be brought,” it added.

“As always, we will make that decision independently, based on the evidence and in line with our legal test.”

Letby, 35, was found guilty of murdering seven children and attempting to murder seven more between June 2015 and June 2016 while working in the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital and is currently serving 15 whole-life orders.

lucy letby
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Letby worked at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital

She is understood to have carried out two work placements at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, where she trained as a student, between October and December 2012, and January and February 2015.

Police said in December that Letby was interviewed in prison as part of an investigation into more baby deaths and non-fatal collapses.

A Cheshire Constabulary spokesperson said: “We can confirm that Cheshire Constabulary has submitted a full file of evidence to the CPS for charging advice regarding the ongoing investigation into deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the neo-natal units of both the Countess of Chester Hospital and the Liverpool Women’s Hospital as part of Operation Hummingbird.”

Detectives previously said the investigation was looking into the full period of time that Letby worked as a nurse, covering the period from 2012 to 2016 and including a review of 4,000 admissions of babies.

Letby’s lawyer Mark McDonald said: “The evidence of the innocence of Lucy Letby is overwhelming,” adding: “We will cross every bridge when we get to it but if Lucy is charged I know we have a whole army of internationally renowned medical experts who will totally undermine the prosecution’s unfounded allegations.”

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Three managers at the hospital where Lucy Letby worked have been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

On Tuesday, it was confirmed that three managers at the Countess of Chester hospital had been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in a separate investigation.

Read more from Sky News:
‘Catastrophic failure’ that led to Heathrow power outage revealed
Man charged with murder of 93-year-old woman in Cornwall

Police said the suspects, who occupied senior positions at the hospital between 2015 and 2016, have all been bailed pending further inquiries.

There is also an investigation into corporate manslaughter at the hospital, which began in October 2023.

A public inquiry has also been examining the hospital’s response to concerns raised about Letby before her arrest.

In May, it was announced the inquiry’s final report into how the former nurse was able to commit her crimes will now be published early next year.

Earlier this year, Letby’s lawyers called for the suspension of the inquiry, claiming there was “overwhelming and compelling evidence” that her convictions were unsafe.

In February, an international panel of neonatologists and paediatric specialists told reporters that poor medical care and natural causes were the reasons for the collapses and deaths.

Their evidence has been passed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, and Letby’s legal team hopes her case will be referred back to the Court of Appeal.

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More criminal charges being considered over baby deaths at Lucy Letby hospitals

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More criminal charges being considered over baby deaths at Lucy Letby hospitals

The Crown Prosecution Service has said it is considering whether to bring further criminal charges over the deaths of babies at hospitals where Lucy Letby worked.

The CPS said it had received “a full file of evidence from Cheshire Constabulary asking us to consider further allegations in relation to deaths and non-fatal collapses of babies at the Countess of Chester Hospital and Liverpool Women’s Hospital”.

“We will now carefully consider the evidence to determine whether any further criminal charges should be brought,” it added.

“As always, we will make that decision independently, based on the evidence and in line with our legal test.”

Letby, 35, was found guilty of murdering seven children and attempting to murder seven more between June 2015 and June 2016 while working in the neonatal unit of the Countess of Chester Hospital and is currently serving 15 whole-life orders.

She is understood to have carried out two work placements at Liverpool Women’s Hospital, where she trained as a student, between October and December 2012, and January and February 2015.

On Tuesday, it was confirmed that three managers at the Countess of Chester hospital had been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

Police said the suspects, who occupied senior positions at the hospital between 2015 and 2016, have all been bailed pending further inquiries.

There is also an investigation into corporate manslaughter at the hospital, which began in October 2023.

A public inquiry has also been examining the hospital’s response to concerns raised about Letby before her arrest.

In May, it was announced the inquiry’s final report into how the former nurse was able to commit her crimes will now be published early next year.

Earlier this year, Letby’s lawyers called for the suspension of the inquiry, claiming there was “overwhelming and compelling evidence” that her convictions were unsafe.

In February, an international panel of neonatologists and paediatric specialists told reporters that poor medical care and natural causes were the reasons for the collapses and deaths.

Their evidence has been passed to the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), which investigates potential miscarriages of justice, and Letby’s legal team hopes her case will be referred back to the Court of Appeal.

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