Father joins desperate hunt for 20-year-old

Published on Tuesday 31 January 2012 00:00

THE distraught father of a missing man was last night clinging to the hope that his son could still be found alive, two days after he disappeared near a clifftop on the Aberdeenshire coast.

Grant Ritchie yesterday spent the day with family and friends of his missing son, also Grant, helping police and coastguard teams as scour the coastline at Cove, near Aberdeen.

He had joined search teams for the second day in succession after grabbing only three hours sleep since his son, the second youngest of a family of six children, was first reported missing in the early hours of Sunday.

The 20-year-old mechanic vanished after he became separated from his girlfriend, Lisa Stephen, 17, and two other friends after they had left a party in Cove around 1am.

He was last seen running down a tunnel underneath the main Stonehaven to Aberdeen rail line, which leads to a network of paths above the 40ft high cliffs on the edge of the village.

On the night he disappeared temperatures fell to -3C and he was wearing only a long-sleeved T-shirt, blue jeans and black shoes.

Mr Ritchie snr said he was living in hope that his “happy- go-lucky” son was lying injured somewhere in the area and could still be found alive.

He said: “I have been worried sick for two days now. We have got to keep searching until we get any information – good or bad.”

The missing man’s girlfriend, who lives with him in Merlin Terrace, Newburgh, said he had “just vanished” after they left a party in the village on the outskirts of Aberdeen.

Ms Stephen said: “We were walking along beside the cliffs. He was with me one minute, then he ran past me. I shouted on him about 15 seconds later, and he was gone. It was so dark I couldn’t really see anything. I just kept shouting and screaming for him, but there was no reply.”

She added: “I don’t know where he went. I didn’t hear anything. He didn’t scream or shout or sound distressed – he just vanished.”

Mr Ritchie’s best friend, Shaun Hanratty, said: “We don’t know if he fell over the edge or what has happened to him. Everyone is distraught.”

He added: “It’s hard to take, as he is only 20 and has the rest of his life to live. Grant is always happy and cheerful and you will never meet a nicer guy.

“The only way to describe him is that he’s a legend.”

Yesterday, as an inshore lifeboat continued to help in the search, Grampian Police set up an incident van close to Loirston Place in Cove where Mr Ritchie was last seen.

Police officers distributed posters of the missing man in the area and also appealed to householders along a three-mile stretch of coastline to check their outhouses for any trace of him. As darkness fell, the search was stood down for the night.

Inspector Iain Maclelland, who is leading the search, said: “We are trying to trace Grant and make sure that he is safe and well.”

However, he added: “We are obviously concerned with regard to the close proximity of the coastline where Grant was last seen and that’s where we are concentrating our search at the moment.

“The terrain obviously causes us concern. We are keeping our options open, but Grant, when he was last seen, was wearing a thin T-shirt and didn’t have a lot of clothing for staying out overnight.

“So as time goes on, we are becoming increasingly concerned.”