Family of Scots sailor missing in Dubai appeal for fresh information

The family of a Scots sailor who went missing from a Royal navy ship in Dubai have made a fresh appeal for information five months after he vanished.

Father-of-two Leading Seaman Timothy Andrew MacColl, known as Timmy, is originally from Killin but now lives in Gosport, Hampshire.

The 27-year-old serves on HMS Westminster, which docked in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, on Saturday May 26 and departed again on May 31.

Seaman MacColl has not been seen since getting into a taxi at around 2am on Sunday May 27 after spending time at the Rock Bottom Bar at the Regent Hotel. The hotel is located in Deira, a 15-minute drive from Port Rashid, where HMS Westminster was docked.

He was put into the taxi by a shipmate who paid upfront and asked the driver to take him back to the ship. He has not been seen since.

Seaman MacColl is married with three children. His wife Rachael was pregnant when he went missing and gave birth last month.

Mrs MacColl said she was "unable to give up hope" that she will find Timmy MacColl as she spoke at a press conference in Portsmouth.

She desribed Seaman MacColl as "my soul mate, first love and best friend" and added: "We have been together since we were teenagers, we have grown together, got married and started a family.

"We had everything to look forward to and as I have said from the beginning my husband wants to be found."

Rachael told how days before he went missing, the young couple had celebrated their sixth wedding anniversary and her present to him were scan pictures of their unborn third child.

She added: "Being a military wife you know that knock on the door is a possibility but you never think it will be you. When that knock came I collapsed for I was told that my husband wasn't dead or injured but missing. My head couldn't understand what they meant.

"For the last five months I have sat at home unable to give up hope, unable to move forward, unable to grieve and constantly dreading the fact that the knock on the door might or might not ever come again."

The local authorities in Dubai are investigating the disappearance and the Ministry of Defence and Foreign and Commonwealth Office are liaising with local agencies.

Seaman MacColl is described as white, 5ft 8ins in height, of medium build, with short brown cropped hair with a flicked fringe. He was last seen wearing a red Moto GP T-shirt, dark-coloured long shorts, and white trainers.

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