Questions Without Answers After Glasgow Man Vanishes on Stag Do in Portugal
One minute, Greg Monks was just another Glaswegian enjoying a stag weekend abroad—with laughter, late nights, and plans to return home. The next, he had vanished, and his family’s nightmare began. For days, they combed unfamiliar streets and fields of Albufeira in southern Portugal, desperate for any sign of the 38-year-old mechanic. Greg, whose disappearance on May 28 left friends and loved ones stunned, was the kind of man people could count on. No matter what, he picked up the phone, stayed in touch, and never gave his sisters, Jillian and Carlyn, a moment’s worry—until now.
The group had flown out to Albufeira to celebrate a friend’s wedding. The party stretched into the early hours of May 28, winding through the city’s bars and clubs. When Greg didn’t make it back to their holiday apartment near the resort’s buzzing tourist center, concern grew quickly. At around 8pm that same evening, a friend reported him missing. Authorities tracked Greg’s last known movements to Cerro de Aguia, a hilly, less-developed area on Albufeira’s outskirts. CCTV footage placed him there at roughly 3:27am—after that, nothing. His phone went silent, and his online footprint vanished too.
Greg’s family wasted no time. Jillian and Carlyn, determined not to sit idle while their brother was missing, flew straight to Portugal. “Greg wouldn’t disappear and make us worry. He’s got a five-year-old girl back at home,” Jillian shared with local media while still searching the dusty tracks and scrublands outside town. Friends described Greg as reliable, a man with deep family ties and a straightforward sense of duty—traits that make his sudden vanishing act even more troubling.
For a week, hope hung by a thread. Flyers circulated. Locals and expatriate Scots pitched in. Then, on June 4, the Portuguese police confirmed what nobody wanted to hear: a body had been found in a steep ravine, not far from the place Greg was last seen. Officers haven’t released many details while they wait for formal identification through a post-mortem, but the location—with its rocky inclines and hidden drops—makes an accident seem possible, if not likely.
Family’s Struggle and Lingering Questions
The emotional toll is tough to overstate. Monks’ family put normal life on hold and confronted a foreign system in order to find their brother and son. The Foreign Office says it’s providing support, staying in touch with local investigators and the family. But the uncertainty still feels unbearable. Until the post-mortem confirms the body’s identity—and until police piece together what happened in those shadowy early hours—Greg’s loved ones are stuck waiting for closure that may never fully come.
Monks worked as a mechanical engineer for Cementation Skanska back in Scotland, known for his quiet sense of humor as much as his mechanical know-how. The company has kept a low profile since news of his disappearance surfaced. His friends and workmates, however, have been quick to rally around his family, sharing stories online and asking for information that could help explain how a *Greg Monks* night out ended in tragedy.
For now, police in Portugal continue their inquiries. They haven’t ruled out any possibility, but the suggestion that Greg’s death could have been an accident seems to fit the sparse details—and the rough, secluded terrain of Cerro de Aguia. Back home in Glasgow, one thing is certain: the shockwaves rippling through the Monks family haven’t faded. They just want answers, and one more moment with Greg that can never come.
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