Who the Hell is Hamish?

He was born Hamish Watson, a surfie dude from Sydney – but he could morph into whatever you needed him to be. Hamish is due to be sentenced to jail in early 2019 for swindling a handful of victims out of more than $7m. But these crimes are just the final pages in a resume too thick to staple; for decades he’s duped victims in the US, Canada, Britain, Hong Kong and Australia. How did he do it? How did he evade authorities around the world for so long and what’s he done with all those tens of millions of dollars he stole? Theo Hayez is missing in Byron Bay, a beautiful beachside town on Australia’s most easterly mainland point, frequently in the spotlight for its famous residents. Theo’s from Brussels. He’s 18 and on a backpacking holiday when he vanishes in May 2019. Behind the scenes local volunteers who’ve never met Theo begin searching and investigating with his family, parallel to a major police investigation. As the search narrows to the area around the 118-year-old Cape Byron Lighthouse, a range of theories emerge.At the request of Theo’s family, The Australian newspaper’s national crime correspondent David Murray joins the unofficial search party to investigate the mysterious disappearance for a new podcast series.To hear more, search for The Lighthouse in your podcast app. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.