Timmy MacColl: Search for missing sailor to end

THE wife of a Scottish sailor, who mysteriously vanished while on shore leave in Dubai last year, has poignantly admitted that she and her family will have to live the rest of their lives without him.

• Rachael MacColl has decided to close the “Bring Timmy Home” webpage

• Timmy MacColl is originally from Killin in Perthshire

Rachael MacColl, whose husband Leading Seaman Timmy MacColl disappeared on 26 May last year, has decided to close the Facebook campaign, dedicated to tracing her husband. It has attracted more than 100,000 supporters across the globe.

And in a heartbreaking message posted on the webpage the mother of three, who was pregnant with her third child when her husband went missing, has told supporters that it is now time for her family to move on because the search for her husband is having an “adverse affect on our lives.”

Leading Samoan MacColl, 27, originally from Killin in Perthshire, vanished while on shore leave in Port Rashid from the Royal Navy warship HMS Westminster. He was last seen by two fellow sailors who reportedly helped him into a taxi outside a cafe. But he never made it back to his ship.

There has been no trace of the missing sailor, despite the offer of a £250,000 reward and a YouTube video, created by the family and the Royal Navy in the hope of unearthing vital information about the missing seaman.

Mrs MacColl has twice travelled from her home in Hampshire to Dubai in the search for information. But she has now decided to close down the “Bring Timmy Home” webpage, set up last year in the hope of finding her missing husband.

She states in a message, posted on the webpage: “Thank you to everyone who has supported me and my family during the last eight months. It has now been over a year since I last saw my husband and things have changed dramatically. In light of my recent visit to Dubai I am quite comfortable in the knowledge that extensive searches for my husband have been conducted and unfortunately have come to no conclusion into his whereabouts.

“Your extensive campaigning on our behalf has been heart warming and has yielded great results. We now have contacts both here in the UK and out in Dubai who will continue looking for answers. The campaign to Bring Timmy Home is no longer fitting and unfortunately due to this changes need to be made.”

Mrs MacColl continues: “Therefore in light of recent events I have come to the decision to close the Facebook group. Me and the children now need to come to terms with the fact that we have to live our lives without Timmy. This group is now serving as a constant reminder of what I have lost and is having an adverse effect on our lives.

“Thank you once more for everything you all have done, the time and effort that you all have committed to our cause has really been breathtaking and not in vain. We have achieved so much that would never have been possible without you. This has been a hard decision but it is in the best interest of my family and children. I hope you all understand.”

She concludes: “All further communication from the family will be via this website.Love, kisses and magic, Rachael MacColl.”

Mrs MacColl gave birth to the couple’s third child, Eriskay, last September. The couple have two other children, Cameron, aged seven, and Skye, four.