Jamie Neale ‘went to hell and back’, says Richard Cass after son’s 12 days lost in the Blue Mountains in Australia

The father of the British backpacker lost in the wilderness has denied claims that his son faked his ordeal in the Australian bush in order to make money.

Richard Cass told Australian TV that his son, Jamie Neale, was angry at suggestions that his account of being lost in the Blue Mountains for 12 days, was either embellished or completely fictitious.

“This is not a hoax,” Cass said. “My boy has been to hell and back.”

Sean Anderson, a Sydney-based agent, told the Times that he had signed Neale and his father to his agency to sell their story to the British and Australian media.

Another talent agent in Australia, Max Markson, told ABC News there that the backpacker could earn up to £49,000 for his story. “I think it’s worth A$100,000 immediately. And a lot of that money would come from the English press. There’s enormous interest in the story in England,” said Markson.

By tomorrow Neale, 19, from Muswell Hill, north London, could be discharged from the Blue Mountains hospital where he has been recovering from dehydration and exposure.

Neal arrived in Australia on 22 June, and, on 2 July, booked into a youth hostel in Katoomba, a popular destination for backpackers planning to explore the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. The following morning, dressed in a light shirt, jacket, jeans and a cap and carrying a small bag, he set off alone on a 10-mile hike. He then became disoriented and lost.

The alarm was raised after he failed to turn up for a prepaid tour of local caves the next day. A hunt involving 100 people – including police rescue teams, dog handlers, firefighters and volunteers – started that eventually cost more than A$100,000.

Superintendent Anthony McWhirter, of the Blue Mountain police, told Australia’s Channel 9 News that the force had no reason to doubt Neale’s story. “Questions are being asked, at the end of the day an incredible story is far harder to believe,” he said. “But [from] our preliminary reports and discussion with Jamie, he’s been there for 12 days.”

Cass said his son had survived after finding water and by eating seeds and “some sort of weed which was like [salad] rocket”. He was found alive but dehydrated by sightseers in the Blue Mountains national park, west of Sydney, yesterday.

A hospital spokeswoman said: “We’re taking it one day at a time. We’re waiting on test results. He is stable and resting comfortably, and has eaten well.”