Police are searching beauty spots in Fife a week after the disappearance of a St Andrews pensioner.
Officers say there have been “potential sightings” of Paul Johnson, went missing from his home on Hay Fleming Avenue at around 10pm last Wednesday.
But these sightings remain unconfirmed a week after his disappearance.
The 74-year-old was spotted on Hepburn Gardens, near Lawhead Road East, at 10.45pm that day but has not been seen since.
Police believe he may have left his home to go for a walk but has not returned.
Speaking to Kingdom FM, Chief Inspector Brian Poole said: “Since the last confirmed sighting we’ve unfortunately had no definitive findings at all.
“Following the appeal we had a number of potential, albeit unconfirmed, sightings of someone matching Paul’s general description, and notably these came from the Morton Lochs and Tentsmuir area, just outside St Andrews.
“For the last few days we’ve focused on that area, carrying out search activities… in what is a fairly significant area and [there is] a lot of effort going into that.
“We’re still looking at and focusing on door-to-door inquiries around about the home address locality, CCTV grabbing and viewing in the hope that that will help us get to anywhere Paul’s gotten to.”
Paul – who is about 5ft 9in tall, of slim build with grey hair – was wearing a blue rain jacket and light-coloured walking trousers when he was last seen.
Scores of volunteers joined the search for the pensioner at the weekend.
Ch Insp Poole told the radio station: “We’re approaching the week anniversary of Paul leaving his home address and it’s completely out of character for Paul to be out of contact with his family for such a long period.
“Primarily his family, but obviously ourselves, we’re growing increasingly concerned for his wellbeing, particularly given the passage of time.”
‘As it stands we’re no further forward’
He added: “As it stands we really are no further forward in terms of tracing Paul or making sure Paul is safe and well.
“We’ve had a really good response from members of the public and they’ve supported some search activity as well.
“It’s really, really concerning that we’ve not had any contact from Paul since he left his home last week and our focus is absolutely on getting Paul’s whereabouts and confirming his safety as well.
“We’ve had great help and support from the family in terms of pointing us in directions of areas where he may head.
“But that said, there’s significant landward areas that have significantly challenging terrain.
“Beyond that we’re continuing to look for him but have no explanation [as to] why we’ve not traced him up to this point.”
In a statement released through Police Scotland, Paul’s family said: “We are all terribly worried about Paul and just want him to come home safe.
“We would like to thank the police, the community and all other agencies who have assisted in the search thus far, and we continue to appeal to anyone who believes they may have some information to please come forward and report it to police.”