Case to be closed on mysterious disappearance of ex-jockey Barrie Wright after three years

A missing person investigation into the former jockey Barrie Wright is expected to be closed by police in Belgium after authorities said they had exhausted all avenues of investigation.

According to police, Wright was last seen shortly before 9pm on February 7, 2020 in the Brasschaat district of Antwerp, with a missing person investigation launched nine days later. He was described as being between 5ft 7in and 5ft 9in tall, bald with blue-grey eyes and a sporty build. 

However, after more than three years the case is likely to be closed soon once it has been brought in front of a judge for that to formally happen.

In a statement, the Antwerp public prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday: “Everything that could be investigated has been done so, but without a result.

“The case will be brought before a judge who will make the final decision. A date has not yet been set for that hearing.”

Wright, who was 64 at the time of his disappearance, started as a conditional jockey in the mid-1970s and continued to ride with limited success until 1995 when he gave up his licence.

In 2001, Wright was arrested as part of an undercover operation conducted by HM Revenue & Customs into a large-scale cocaine smuggling scheme run by the unrelated Brian ‘The Milkman’ Wright.

Brian Wright, who was known as ‘The Milkman’ because he always delivered, was a prominent figure in racing during the 1980s and 1990s when he would launder huge sums of illicit drugs money through extravagant betting.

He was disqualified from the sport indefinitely in 2002 having corrupted a number of riders who passed on sensitive information for reward. Wright was also behind a string of racecourse dopings carried out by Dermot ‘The Needleman’ Browne during a seven-week spree in 1990.

Barrie Wright was acquitted of conspiracy to import cocaine into the UK but did admit to passing on information for reward to Brian Wright, who was released from prison in April 2020 having served half of his 30-year prison sentence for drug smuggling. 

According to a report in the Daily Mail on Tuesday, Brian Wright is not suspected of having any involvement in the disappearance of Barrie Wright. 

Instead, Barrie Wright, who moved to Belgium in the early 2000s after being disqualified from racing for 15 years, is suspected by his family to have been kidnapped by “a notoriously violent Mancunian gangster” with the ex-rider reported to have retained close links to criminal gangs.

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