New lead in search for missing sailor Timmy MacColl

A vital witness has been traced in the mysterious disappearance of a Perthshire sailor in Dubai.

It is six weeks since father-of-two Leading Seaman Timmy MacColl was seen while on shore leave from his ship, HMS Westminster.

Now the taxi driver who was the last person to see LS MacColl, from Killin, has been traced.

He told police he picked the sailor up at 2am outside the Rock Bottom cafe nightclub on the day of his disappearance.

The driver then dropped him at Port Rashid where his ship was based, a journey of 15 minutes.

The news has given fresh hope to his family.

”We have been told the driver stopped at a tea shack inside the port and Timmy got out,” said Neil Cunningham, uncle of Mr MacColl’s pregnant wife, Rachel. ”That is the last sighting of him.”

Mrs MacColl, who travelled to Dubai from their home in Hampshire, has been mystified by her husband’s disappearance.

”It is completely out of character for him not to contact us,” she has said.

The couple have two children, aged six and four.

The navy is working with local authorities and British Foreign Office staff to try to find the missing sailor, and providing support to his family.