Police recover body near remote Scottish monastery where missing Kiwi monk Justin Evans disappeared

Justin Evans disappeared from Golgotha Monastery on Papa Stronsay, Orkney, last month. Photo / Supplied

A body has been found in the water near the Scottish island where a New Zealand monk went missing last month.

Christchurch-born Justin Evans was last seen at the Golgotha Monastery on Papa Stronsay, Orkney, shortly before midnight on April 11. He had lived there for the past two years.

Police Scotland Highland and Islands said today that the body of a man had been pulled out of the water near the island of Stronsay at 7.25am on May 6.

Although formal identification has not yet taken place, Evans’ family had been informed, the statement said.

Justin Evans went missing from the remote monastery on April 11. Photo / Scotland Police

The death is being treated as unexplained, and inquiries are ongoing.

A report would be submitted to the Procurator Fiscal (a public prosecutor responsible for investigating sudden or suspicious deaths) in due course, police said.

Papa Stronsay, where Evans went missing, and Stronsay, where the body was found, are less than 500m apart.

Evans is from Christchurch, where he grew up and attended local schools.

He was a student at St Bede’s College in the late 2010s, where he played for the school’s 1st XV.

A statement from Police Scotland after Evans’ disappearance described him as around 6ft (1.82m) tall, with short hair and a dark beard.

He spoke with a New Zealand accent and was last seen wearing a white robe, police said.

Evans, known as Brother Ignatius at the island monastery, was most recently pictured reading scripture during a service marking the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, known colloquially as Candlemas, at the beginning of February.

New Zealand monk Justin Evans, 24, was originally from Christchurch. Photo / Insula Papey Minor

The monastery was established by the traditionalist Catholic order Sons of the Most Holy Redeemer, which has New Zealand links.

Founded in the late 1980s, the order has faced controversy in Christchurch, where it established a second monastery in the 2000s.

After allegations of unauthorised exorcisms and spiritual and psychological abuse were exposed in a 2023 Newshub report, the Vatican flew Australian Bishop Robert McGuckin to New Zealand to conduct its own investigation into the order.

Justin Evans disappeared from the Golgotha Monastery on Papa Stronsay just before midnight on April 11. Photo / Transalpine Redemptorists

During the investigation, 17 members raised concerns about the group’s leaders, Father Michael Mary and Father Anthony Mary, accusing them of engaging in controlling and manipulating behaviour and interfering in the lives of present and former members.

Bishop Michael Gielen subsequently stripped both priests of their religious faculties and told the order’s members to leave the Diocese of Christchurch following advice from the Vatican, the Herald revealed in July 2024.

The order appealed the ban, but in a letter sent to his diocese in August last year, Bishop Gielen confirmed the Vatican had “rejected in its entirety” the appeal.