AN APPEAL has been made to residents of the Lake District and Cumbria for help finding a much-loved father-of-two who has been missing since May last year.

Family and friends believe 47-year-old Pete Brown, of Whitby, may be in the county.

And a van decked-out with a picture of Mr Brown will be touring Cumbria next Friday in what is hoped will be a ‘breakthrough’ moment in the hunt for him.

“There have been sightings of people that look like Pete in the Cumbria area,” said friend Graeme Lindoe, who has known Mr Brown for around 18 years.

“But mainly (the family) used to go on holiday to Cumbria and that is a fond area. He might be getting flashbacks. We don’t know his mental state at present.”

At the time of going missing, Mr Brown had been admitted to hospital in North Yorkshire due to issues with his mental health.

However, in May 2019, he left the hospital of his own volition and has not been seen since.

According to Mr Lindoe, his friend was on strong medication at the time.

“When he went missing he no longer had access to that medication and one of the side effects of that medication is memory loss, and if you suffer from a mental health problem your state of mind can go into a place where you don’t know who you really are,” he said.

Family and friends have been fundraising to help find Mr Brown. So far, around £4,800 has been raised and this has gone towards resources such as adverts in magazines and a hired van sporting a picture of Mr Brown. The vehicle has already visited places such as Newcastle and Sunderland, and will be in Cumbria on Friday. Possible destinations include Kendal, Windermere, Penrith and Keswick.

Ultimately, those who know Mr Brown, who has an 18-year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter, just want their friend and family member back.

“He’s just like me. He’s like you. We are just normal people going about our business and that’s what Pete is like. He is a family man through and through,” said Mr Lindoe.

“If somebody else was going through this he would be trying to help that family like we are trying to help Natalie [his wife] and the children.”

He asked anyone who saw Mr Brown to call 999 and quote incident number 12190083137.