Missing: Best friend clings to hope 10 years on.

Friend of Arbroath man thinks he is still alive and will return home one day

The best friend of an Angus man who has been missing for a decade believes he is still alive.

Iain Mowatt walked out of a supported accommodation unit in his hometown of Arbroath on August 12, 2007.

He left the unit at North Grimsby with just the clothes on his back, leaving behind his mobile phone and medication.

Iain would now be aged 42 and on the 10th anniversary of his disappearance, his best friend Andrew McLean has spoken of his hope that Iain will return to Arbroath one day.

He said: “There’s always hope. You see stories on the television that people can come back after 25 years.

“Until a body or some other piece of evidence emerges I’ll keep hoping that one day he’ll return.

“He’s never far from my thoughts. I’m always thinking of him. I’ve got pictures of him up in my house.

“Every time a body was found I thought is this it? Is this the end? As much as you want closure you don’t want that ending.

“It’s hell. It’s hell for his parents and sisters. It’s never been the same since he’s left.

“I’ve just got a feeling that one day he will walk down my pathway again.”

Iain is described as 6ft 4in tall, with dark hair and blue eyes. He has several tattoos including the Declaration of Arbroath scroll on his leg, a panther tattoo on his arm and ‘Only God Can Judge Me’ on his back.

His disappearance prompted an extensive land and underwater search of the local woods, cliffs and harbour by police, coastguard and lifeboats but a body was never found.

Andrew, who grew up with Iain in Arbroath, added: “Iain had some mental health problems but I would never have thought that he would have taken his own life. He was a brilliant guy. He loved his family. He loved his friends.

“Some people just don’t want to be found.

“I’ve got solace in that I think he’ll come back when he’s ready.”

Over the past decade his family has made regular appeals online for information.

Andrew said he wished Iain would make contact to let his friends and family know he is okay.

Police Scotland said it was continuing to make inquiries into Mr Mowatt’s disappearance.

Picture: Kim Cessford. Andrew, top, hopes Iain will be back when he is ready.