At 05.45hrs in the early hours of this morning, our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE was contacted directly by telephone by a Greater Manchester Missing Person Search Manager, regarding mounting Police concern for a missing 24 year old Bolton man, who was believed to be in the Belmont area.

Attempts to ’ping’ his mobile phone had given GMP some likely search areas, centred on the plantations and moorland slopes near to the ’San Marino’ Restaurant, just south of Belmont village.

A full team call out was paged at 06.09hrs, with our Team Leader also contacting the Team Leader Andy Simpson of Rossendale and Pendle MRT for his teams assistance.

With Bolton MRT team members assembling at our Ladybridge Hall Base / HQ our Team Leader went directly to the Belmont RVP to meet up with responding Police Officers.

As our Team Leader arrived at the RVP, GMP were about to commence an initial search of the plantation adjacent to the main A675 road near to the ’San Marino’ Restaurant, whilst overhead the GMP Fixed Wing Air Support Unit Islander aircraft ’India 66’ was orbiting conducting a search with its on board sophisticated surveillance equipment.

At circa 06.35 hrs, the GMP aircraft located a person thought to be the missing man walking in the vicinity of Wards Reservoir, Belmont, (Popularly known as the ’Blue Lagoon’) and immediately dispatched Police to the location.

At 06.45hrs it was confirmed by the responding Police Officers that this man was indeed the ’missing man’ and the search was stood down, with a ’Stand Down’ pager call sent at 06.46hrs.

In total thirteen Bolton MRT and eleven Rossendale and Pendle MRT members were responding to this incident at the time of the stand down, with major GMP Local Divisional Officers involved alongside other GMP Divisions also lending support, including the GMP Fixed Wing Air Support Unit.