It was a routine trip that the 28-year-old British tour guide and driver had made many times. Normally Christopher would then have travelled the short distance back across the German border and into Austria to his company’s office in the town of Zell am See.
However that afternoon five years ago he vanished. Christopher’s unlocked van was found less than 24 hours later, with the keys in the ignition and the lights on. Inside was his wallet and mobile. Later his passport was discovered in his apartment where his computer was running.
“It was as if he had just popped out to the shops,” says Christopher’s father, Nick, a recently retired fireman from Plymouth. The disappearance of his son, who had lived in Austria for seven years working in the tourism industry, has baffled the authorities.
The final sighting of the Briton was next to his van at about 2pm on the afternoon of July 31, 2010. A witness said he exchanged a few words in German, was smoking a cigarette and appeared agitated. Despite extensive searches there has been no trace since.
Christopher’s 34th birthday will be in December and as the years slip by hope has faded that he will be found alive. Yet his father is refusing to give up and last week appeared on the German version of Crimewatch to appeal for help.
Nick’s quest to find out what happened has been hampered by red tape because Christopher vanished in Germany but lived in Austria. Christopher James Miles, who was known by his initials CJ, grew up in the village of Callington in Cornwall.
After leaving school he had a variety of jobs, including a stint as a Butlins redcoat and he was later a tour rep in Turkey.
“Christopher has always been a free spirit and he loves the outdoors,” says his 52-year-old father.
“He’d have a go at anything – diving, mountaineering, skiing.”
His son eventually settled in Zell am See, where he first worked as a chalet host before joining a tour company. During the ski and snowboard season Christopher was an instructor. He kept in close contact with his family, including three younger sisters and spoke to his father most days.
“CJ was a bit of a rebellious teenager and we had our moments,” says Nick. “But as he grew older we became more like best mates rather than father and son. I’d been out to visit him in Austria several times and he was back in the UK for a week the month before he went missing. “He was unsettled and a little withdrawn but he seemed better having spent time with his family and went back to work.”
Christopher’s halfbrother Jevon, then 18, had decided to join him in Austria and the pair were looking forward to sharing a flat. Christopher was also excited about a gift of a car from his father. Leading up to the last sighting Christopher missed his first scheduled pick-up of arriving tourists at Salzburg airport.
He met a later flight and drove the 30 miles to Ruhpolding, a popular base for winter sports and for climbers and walkers in the summer. It is a small community but the population of 6,000 was swollen by holidaymakers.
One of the mysteries is why no one else saw Christopher, who had no money and was wearing just shorts. He was reported missing by a colleague.
“I jumped on a plane straight away,” says Nick, who met police officers who were involved in the search and ended up staying for a month building up his own picture of his son’s life in Austria.
“It was difficult being in his apartment where we’d drunk beer together, played cards until the early hours, watched films and talked.
“He didn’t have any worries. He had money in his bank account and although there had been a few girlfriends there was no one special in his life. There were no enemies.”
Eventually Nick had to close his son’s bank account in Austria and remove all his possessions from the flat. Nick says he encountered contrasting approaches in Germany and Austria.