US police accuse Scots tourist of faking his own death while on holiday in California

A Scots holidaymaker has been accused of faking his own death by police in the United States.

Detectives in California are trying to track down Kim Avis after he disappeared from Monastery Beach in Carmel, California, during a trip to the area with his 17-year-old son.

The 54-year-old, who lives seven miles from Inverness, is said to have gone for a swim on Monday at 7pm but his son Rueben said he did not return to shore.

His son, who has since returned to Scotland, called 911 to raise the alarm and there was a two-day search involving divers.

But after Rueben was twice interviewed by police they decided that his father, also known as Kim Gordon, faked the disappearance.

The division’s dive team supervisor, Michael Dalington, told a US news network: “The son didn’t actually see his father go in the water. We don’t have a witness that saw him go in so it’s like a needle in a haystack.”

Avis and his son had flown into LAX airport in Los Angeles about two weeks ago, and it is unclear where they had been staying.

Rueben was initially taken into child protection custody and then allowed to return home so he could go back to school.

Making a false 911 call is against the law but he is unlikely to face charges.

He is now staying at the home of his father and American stepmother near Inverness, where he refused to comment yesterday.

Avis, a former busker, runs a stall in the city selling hand-made jewellery and trinkets. Police in America said his son’s story started to “fall apart” when he was questioned about how they got to Monterey County from Los Angeles.

His differing versions were that they had hitch-hiked, travelled in a rental car or caught the bus. They also did not appear to have accommodation booked.

Captain John Thornburg, from the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, said: “We believe he is alive but we don’t know where he is.

“We think that the report of a swimmer is false and ultimately there’s only two people who know why the son called 911 and said he had gone swimming.

“I don’t have a sense of what the son’s emotional state was at the time.

“I would expect somebody like that to be severely upset and that may have been the first clue the deputies picked up on that he wasn’t, and that would be unusual.

“The story about how they had got from LA to Monterey was very inconsistent.

“We have no reason to believe he is in any sort of danger or injured. Right now we have switched our focus to finding him.”

US Marshals are now trying to track down Avis and are “working directly with the Scottish authorities.”

Officers are also investigating whether he has been using a mobile phone or bank cards.

Before going to America, Avis had told friends he would have to go away to have treatment for cancer.

Heavily-tattooed Avis, who was born in Newmarket, Suffolk, has a fascination with wolves and his house above the village of Bunchcrew is called The Wolf’s Lair.

In 2011 he posted an advert online offering pedigree hybrid wolf pups for sale for £500 each.

Avis has also taken part in a mile-long charity swim across Loch Ness and competitive mountain biking races.

He needed hospital treatment in 2013 after breaking several ribs and injuring his kidneys when he fell off his bike at Glencoe.

His wife declined to comment yesterday saying: “It would not be appropriate.”

Monastery Beach – named after the nearby Carmelite Monastery Mission – is off the beaten track as a holiday destination.

Tourist guides warn against swimming there as it has the nickname Mortuary Beach and is known as the most dangerous in California.