Family frantic after Matthew Elmer's '˜bizarre' disappearance

Matthew Elmer was last seen on Saturday. Picture: contributed

Fears are growing for a Livingston man who has not been seen since the weekend.

Matthew Elmer has not been in touch and friends have described his disappearance as “bizarre” and “out of character”.

An appeal by best friends James Gordon and Paul McGoogan sparked a huge community search which has so far not yielded any clues.

The 23-year-old was last seen at home in Poplar Grove, Livingston on Saturday at 6pm.

He was reported missing after his mother, Cathy Dwire, returned from a shopping trip to find that he was gone.

And as concerns grow, Matthew’s father, Ian Elmer, has travelled up from his home in Cardiff to help with the search.

More than 100 people joined in the hunt on Tuesday, with the search party scouring Almondell Country Park, Knightsridge, Deans, Livingston South and Livingston North for several hours.

Meanwhile, other concerned friends also travelled into Edinburgh to put up “missing” posters across the city.

Among those involved with the search was Sarah Hatch, 46, who has been close friends with Matthew’s mother for more than a decade.

She said: “Matthew is my best friend’s son and my children have grown up with him. We spend a lot of time together.

“He is a remarkable young man and is really important to a lot of people.

“They are a large and fantastically close and loving family. His family are out of their minds with worry.

“He just vanished. It’s bizarre. Since then his friends and family have been actively looking for him and putting out appeals on Facebook.

“There was nothing going on that would have made him [want to] disappear.

“He’s so loved and there didn’t seem to be any outstanding problems. This is so unlike him, completely out of character.”

Ms Hatch, who works at HMRC at Bathgate, said senior management had given her permission to produce posters on the office printers.

Matthew is white with blue eyes and dark brown hair, which is short at the sides and sometimes styled on top. He is 5ft 8in tall and of slim build.

He was wearing a black jacket, black jogging trousers and white canvas laced-up trainers. He has black studs in both ears and was wearing a grey woollen hat.

Inspector Marion Steele of Livingston police station said: “We are growing increasingly concerned for Matthew as he has not been in touch with friends or family since Saturday. We are asking anyone who may have seen him since yesterday at 6pm to please get in touch with us. Similarly, if Matthew himself sees this appeal, we would ask him to contact his family or friends.”

Anyone with information can contact police on 101.

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