Just come home: Fiancee’s plea to fireman missing since pub crawl on Friday
‘It’s the not knowing’
THE fiancee of a firefighter who vanished after a Christmas pub crawl with workmates has pleaded: ‘Just come home’.
Anthony Knott, 33, was last seen at a pub in Lewes, East Sussex, during a night out with 12 fellow London firefighters on Friday last week.
Sussex Police said there was nothing to suggest the father-offour, who was due to return home in the early hours of Saturday, had left the town.
A spokesman for the force said there were increasing concerns for his welfare and fears that ‘he may have come to some harm’.
His tearful bride-to-be Lucy Otto, from Orpington, south-east London, said: ‘I just feel numb... it’s very strange. It’s the not knowing, it’s terrible.’
She told Sky News: ‘I don’t understand how someone can just walk out a pub and disappear. There’s no eyewitness statements, there’s not much CCTV, there’s nothing really to go on. And to be gone for this long, I just don’t get it, I just do not understand it.’
There has been no activity on Mr Knott’s phone since 7.20pm on Friday and it has been off since 1am on Saturday, while his bank card has not been used. Miss Otto said: ‘ I know the weather was really bad that day and there was bad flooding.
‘I don’t know if he’s tried to come home and come across some water and hurt himself. But there’s been search and rescue teams looking for him.’
She added that they had been ‘really excited’ for Christmas and had been looking forward to ‘ fun, family time’. She called for anyone in the vicinity of the pub on Friday evening to contact police with any details they can remember.
In a direct message to her fiance, she added: ‘If... you’re worried and you’re thinking, “Oh I can’t come home, this is too big now”, honestly, you don’t realise how many people want you back regardless of the situation you left in – if that is the case. So just come home, please just come home.’
Sussex Police have made extensive inquiries and scoured CCTV footage. Volunteers have also been helping emergency services with the hunt, which has included searching the nearby River Ouse.
Chief Inspector Anita Turner said police were grateful for the assistance, but asked the public to leave the search to the professionals over safety fears. She said: ‘Members of the public have also been very helpful and we thank them for their support. However with the hazards posed by flooded areas we would ask the public to not search in these areas due to your personal safety.
‘There is no information to say Anthony left the Lewes area and our searches will continue to focus in this location.
‘There are increasing concerns for his welfare and there is a possibility Anthony may have come to harm, but there is no current information to indicate that Anthony’s disappearance is due to crime.’
She added: ‘He is a family man and we are acutely aware of the distress being caused to his partner and relatives, particularly now that Christmas is here.’ Mr Knott is about 6ft tall and of medium build.
He was wearing a black long-sleeve top, a dark denim suit-style jacket, dark denim jeans and black shoes.
Anyone with information about the firefighter’s disappearance is asked to contact Sussex Police by phoning 101.