Mum died without knowing what happened to Neil as family renew appeal to trace him after 22 years

THE mother of a Brixham man missing for more than two decades died without knowing what happened to him.

- by STAFF REPORTERS

Neil Nortrop would have turned 54 on May 6 but there has been no trace of him since he left his mother Pam’s home in Brixham on June 10, 2003.

From Devon, Mr Nortrop - also known as Neil McGarthland - had travelled to Greenwich and Dartford that day to visit friends in London.

His mother last heard from her son, who was 32 at the time, in a phone call the following day.

Police treated the disappearance as murder but, despite the arrest of a man and woman from Greenwich in 2005, no charges were ever brought and Mr Nortrop’s body was never found.

Mrs Nortrop remained hopeful he son would be found but in 2010, seven years after he went missing, spoke of the toll his disappearance had taken on her.