Bad weather hampers hunt for missing pensioner William Elder

Police are to search the River Tummell in the hunt for a pensioner who has been missing for more than a week.

William Elder, 81, has not been seen since he left his sheltered housing complex in Pitlochry at 10.45am on December 10. Police officers have so far been hampered in their attempts to search nearby waterways by the weather conditions.

Sergeant David Patton, from Pitlochry police station, said that if Mr Elder had fallen into the water he was likely to have been swept away.

He went on: “It’s still in our plans to search the river but we are very much at the mercy of the elements. With the way the weather has been, the river has remained high since Mr Elder was reported missing.

“If Mr Elder has gone in the river there’s the possibility he has been washed downstream for some considerable distance. We are going to go down the Tummel, down to the confluence with the Tay.

“He was a keen fisherman and we know he went visiting to the waterside regularly, down to the dam area and, when he lived in Caputh, he would go to some of the fishing beats there.

“One of his passions was angling.”

Sgt Patton appealed for anyone who has any information to contact the police on 101.