CCTV footage showing the last movements of an ‘intelligent’ teenager who disappeared eight days ago has been released by police.
Tom Dingle, 19, from Appley Bridge near Wigan, was last spotted on Stonemill Rise in the village at around 12.30am on Saturday December 13.
New video shows the Lancaster University student walking along Mill Lane in the village before turning onto Appley Lane at 12.40am.
His family has said it feels ‘like we’re in hell’ as police drones, mountain rescue teams, and dogs scour the area looking for Tom.
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(Picture: ITV NEWS)
The student, who is said to be grieving after a bereavement, was last seen wearing a black Carhartt jacket, black jeans, black Doc Martin shoes and carrying a backpack over his shoulder.
Tom is 5ft 10in with short black hair and an athletic build.
Speaking at an emotional press conference last week, his mum Susan Dingle said: ‘Please come home Tom. We love you so much and we miss you desperately.
‘Every day it gets harder. Just please come back to us.’
Tom was staying at the family home in Appley Bridge before he went missing.
His parents said ‘an innocuous message’ from Tom sparked ’cause for concern that things weren’t quite right’.
They went out searching for him, but he had gone in a different direction to where he had told them.
‘Maybe he intended to throw us off because he knew we’d come after him,’ Ms Dingle said.
She added: ‘We’re a very close family, we do everything together.
‘We’ve spoken to all his friends, we’ve spoken to family who don’t live in the area, and people where he was studying.
‘We just want our baby back, that’s all.
‘We’re worried that he thinks that he’s going to be in some kind of trouble because of all the distress and worry of him not being home.
‘He needs to understand that we are not in any way angry.’
Lancaster Police say their searches and enquiries are ‘very much ongoing’ and they are ‘doing everything in our powers to find Tom’.
They have appealed for anyone with CCTV or dashcam footage of Stonemill Rise and Appley Lane North area from 12.30am to 3am on Saturday December 13 to come forward.
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