At some point this morning a 48 year old resident of Abram Brow, went missing in circumstances that gave his family and friends concern for his well being.

As the afternoon progressed family, friends and local residents joined together to search for the missing man, with GMP becoming involved alongside a growing media appeal to try and find him.

As the evening progressed concern was mounting and at 19.49hrs our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE was contacted directly by a GMP Missing Person Search Manager for the teams immediate assistance.

Our Team Leader placed the team on standby, whilst collecting further relevant information and a suitable RVP was established.

At 20.31hrs a full team call out was made, with our first team member Alistair Greenough, our Training Officer, arriving at the Kingsdown Road Flash, Abram Brow, RVP at 20.55hrs.

Our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE arrived minutes later, and liaised with the just arrived Police specialist search assets deployed to this incident.

What was immediately apparent to Alistair and Garry was the large number of family, friends and local residents who were out searching for the missing man, and their immediate readiness to assist us and the Police in our search efforts.

Indeed they had organised themselves very well, and were able to pass on a considerable amount of local information and knowledge that assisted with our search planning.

With the assistance of our colleagues at Cheshire Search and Rescue Team – who had been training this evening in North Cheshire, a large number of GMP TAU assets and family, friends and local residents, an intensive organised MRT / SRT search was conducted commencing at 21.15hrs, under the control and co-ordination of Bolton MRT.

As the evening progressed a specialist DVSD Search Dog team was deployed, and a helicopter from NPAS joined in the search.

A large area around the missing mans home was covered during the search, in the Abram Brow locality, including Hibberts Farm / Lee Lane Farm, and the Kingsdown Road Flash / Pollys Pond areas.

By 02.00hrs in the early morning of Wednesday 17th June, all MRT / SRT search taskings were complete, and with Police enquiries continuing the search was stood down for recommencement in daylight. later in the morning.

Many members of the missing mans family and local residents maintained their search.

Our last assets – Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE and Training Officer Alistair Greenough, left the RVP at 02.30hrs on Wednesday 17th June.

The following resources were directly involved in this search incident;

• Greater Manchester Police; three Tactical Aid Units, two PCSO’s, Local Divisional resources, one Police Missing Person Search Manager.
• National Police Air Service; Helicopter NPAS 23 from BAE Systems Warton.
• British Transport Police; one DVSD (Drowned Victims Search Dog) team, Handler Mike Dermody – also a member of SARDA Ireland North, and DVSD Search Dog Quincy.
• Bolton Mountain Rescue Team; twenty four team call out list members present. 4x Land Rover Mountain rescue Ambulances, one Ford Transit Minibus / Ambulance, one Incident Control Vehicle, and our 3.4 metre long semi rigid inflatable SAR Boat.
• Cheshire Search and Rescue Team; twenty nine team call out list members present. One Team Incident Support Vehicle.