Photo of newly-married groom’s bedsheets raised police suspicions after honeymooner 'vanished' on cruise

The case of a groom who disappeared on his honeymoon cruise and was believed to have gone overboard might not be as clear cut as it first appeared.

Police are said to have been left baffled after bedsheets found in the room of his cabin had blood stains on them, which are still unexplained.

George Smith was last seen alive while enjoying a honeymoon cruise through the Mediterranean, before he seemingly vanished 19 years ago.

George was last seen alive on CCTV casino footage. (Royal Caribbean)

In the early hours of 5 July 2005, George and his new wife Jennifer - who'd tied the knot 11 days prior in plush ceremony in Newport, Rhode Island - were enjoying a booze-fuelled evening onboard Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas ship.

On board the ship, George became friends with another passenger, Josh Askin, 20, as well as others.

On the evening of 4 July, Jennifer and George went to the ship’s casino which turned into a drunken night. CCTV from the casino is the last time George was seen alive.

Josh Askin, along with three other men on the ship - Rusty Kofman, Greg Rozenberg and Zach Rozenberg - were said to have helped George back to his cabin after he was too drunk.

They then told the police that they helped him take his shoes off before putting him to bed and then heading their separate ways and ordering room service, although the cruise ship has no records of this.

Blood was also found on the bedsheets. (Royal Caribbean)

A legal representative for Askin later argued, however, that a simple oversight in the hand-written hospitality records may have meant that the orders weren't written down.

Wife Jennifer was later found around 4.30am after passing out in one of the ships' hallways, but she has little recollection of what happened after the casino.

With George last seen alive in the casino, it was later assumed he must have fallen overboard, with bloodstains being found on the side of the ship.

Yet one piece of evidence didn't appear to support that theory.

Bloodstains were also found on his bedsheets, which remain unexplained.

In the cabin, a chair was found pushed up against the railings of the balcony leading to the assumption that George had climbed up and then gone overboard from the ship.

Yet the bloodied sheets remain with no explanation, and police none the wiser even 19 years later.

A blood stain was also found on the side of the ship. (Royal Caribbean)

It was presumed that George had fallen off the ship, and with no body ever found he's still classed as a 'missing person' to this day.

Wife Jennifer believed her husband had fallen overboard and in 2007, she agreed to a $1.1 million (£862,000) settlement with cruise operator Royal Caribbean.

Jennifer also gave a statement, suggesting that George might have fallen off the ship while trying to balance on the balcony in their cabin to smoke a cigar.

George's family, however, have continued to dispute this version of events - despite having reached their own settlement with Royal Caribbean in 2011.

Four years later, George Smith's disappearance was closed in 2015, despite police never having found his body.

• Couple who adopted 'damsel of death' after she was placed on death row reveal why they did it
• Toddler who vanished when she was 23 months old found alive 25 years later after case is reopened
• Eerie phone call Aileen Wuornos made to ex-girlfriend after being caught for seven murders revealed
• Photo Bryan Kohberger took of himself hours after Idaho murders has been revealed in court