THE grieving family of Richard Cole have warned others whose loved ones go missing abroad not to always trust the authorities’ investigations.

In a round criticism of Dutch police looking into their case, the family said in a statement that the investigation after Richard’s disappearance had not gone far enough.

Speaking after the inquest today, they urged others not to assume authorities were putting their full weight into the search and to carry out their own inquiries if necessary.

They added that because of the police’s failures to locate key witnesses, Richards’ family would now always be left with many “unanswered questions”.

“We would encourage any families who ever have a child or sibling go missing to not assume that the authorities are doing 'everything they can',” they said.

“You must go and investigate yourself.”

They continued: “We are pleased that the coroner has given an open verdict in Richard's death today.

“It would be easy to assume that Richard died simply because he fell into the canal while intoxicated.

"We know that it was not as simple as this. We went to Amsterdam to search for Richard when he went missing, we found CCTV footage of private residences and businesses along the canal where Richard was last seen.

"Within the footage we found that whilst Richard was clearly unsteady on his feet he was making his way home and was heading in the right direction. He was then accosted by a man who led him along a road and took him behind a car.

"We could not see clearly what happened behind the car but the man eventually sprints off leaving Richard lying on the floor.

"A taxi pulled up next to Richard and opened the driver’s door but it pulled off after a few minutes. We saw Richard try to get up but he couldn't. He then rolled into the canal.

"We believe that if we had not personally found this footage Richard would not have been found until his body resurfaced.

"The Dutch authorities did not find Richard with their sniffer dogs, the footage showed us where he went in and where his body would be found.

"We believe that in incidences like this it is too easy for the authorities to assume what has happened and wait for the body to resurface.

“If the taxi driver could have been located we may know why Richard could not get up off the floor. Now we will never know.

"We know we will always have unanswered questions regarding how Richard died and the family love and miss him every day."

Click here to read the full inquest into Richard’s death.