Overview
- Justin Evans, 24, who is known in the monastery as Brother Ignatius Maria, was last seen shortly before midnight on Saturday, April 11, inside Golgotha Monastery on Papa Stronsay in Orkney.
- Police Scotland say extensive searches are continuing on and around the island with help from HM Coastguard and the Kirkwall lifeboat, and officers have appealed for anyone who visited the island to share information.
- The Diocese of Aberdeen issued a statement presuming Evans dead in what it described as a sea incident, and it said local searches had been called off, though police told RNZ the search remained active.
- Monastery founder Father Michael Mary said the community feared Evans had long-term hypothermia before he vanished, confirmed he had lived there about two years, and described the loss as devastating for his family in New Zealand and fellow monks.
- Papa Stronsay is a tiny private island served by the monks’ small boat to nearby Stronsay, which links by ferry and air to Kirkwall, and the order that runs the monastery has New Zealand ties and faced separate controversies reported in 2024.