Police are renewing an appeal for information which could help trace Billy McDowell a month after he was last seen.
The 58-year-old from Whitburn was reported missing on Sunday, 2 August.
Enquiries carried out since have established that the last positive sighting of him was on Tuesday, 28 July, 2020. He is known to have been at his home address on Loch Awe Way and attended at a number of locations in Whitburn before disappearing.
All attempts to trace him or identify his movements from this point have been unsuccessful and both his family and officers have significant concerns for his welfare.
His family has today released the following statement through Police Scotland.
“We have not seen or heard from Billy since the last week of July. Each day Billy is missing seems to become the worst day of our life. We are a large and loving family. We all feel incomplete without him and are aching for Billy to come home.
“Billy is the last person we think of before we go to bed at night and the first thing we think of when we wake up. Unfortunately we have no clue what has happened to him or where he is.”
“Billy is a happy go lucky man who always has a smile for everyone. He has a heart of gold and would do anything for anyone if he could. He would stop to chat to anyone but he is vulnerable and some people would take advantage of that. We beg of you with all our heart to please let Billy come home. Our hearts are breaking and we can’t stop crying . We need him back with his family. Please please let him come home.
“With the help of many families, friends and strangers we have been searching for Billy tirelessly over the past four weeks. Words can’t express how grateful we are for the overwhelming prayers and support we’ve received.
“Billy, if you see this we just want you to come home or call somebody. Call the police to let them know you are safe. Wherever you are we want you to know that you are not in any kind of trouble and no one is angry or upset in any way. We are just extremely worried and just want you home.
“We want you to know that we will never stop worrying about you, we will NEVER stop looking for you, and we will NEVER stop loving you. Please contact someone or come home.
“For everyone else, if you know any information about where Billy might be, even if it seems like a small bit of information, it might be that detail that we need to find Billy and bring this nightmare to an end.”
Billy has a number of health conditions which requires daily medication.
Inspector Myles Marshall of Livingston Police Station said: “His disappearance is out of character and while he is known to travel extensively, he would normally leave some means of recording this travel.
“The longer he remains out of contact, the more our concern for him grows.
“We are continuing with extensive enquiries to try and identify his movements before he was reported missing, including carefully studying available CCTV footage.
“We would urge anyone who may have seen Billy in the lead up to him being reported missing or at any time since to let us know.
” I’d also ask people to please check any garages or outbuildings they have in case Billy has sought shelter there.
“Anyone with information should contact Police Scotland on 101 quoting incident number 1621 of 2 August.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
