Sister's emotional plea to find brother who disappeared after visiting Yorkshire beauty spot

Simon Hodgson-Greaves was reported missing back in December 2013 after a member of the public became worried after finding his camper van parked at Bempton Cliffs in East Yorkshire.

The 48-year-old, from Riccall, North Yorkshire, was last seen by a member of his family on December 15, 2015, and visited the popular beauty spot a few days later on December 21.

There have been no sightings since and numerous searches by North Yorkshire Police have been unsuccessful.

His sister Rachel Pickthall said: "The last five years have been absolutely awful and we've struggled a lot.

"For the first year we just had a lot of wishful thinking that he would come back. Although we were worried, we were just hugely hopeful, but as the years have started ticking past and there has been absolutely nothing found about him we started to feel that we weren't doing enough.

"We have tried to be more active. I have got involved with the Missing People charity more and joined the choir and met people like Peter Lawrence, the father of missing York chef Claudia Lawrence and he has helped support us.

Mrs Pickthall says she is desperate to know what happened to her brother and would like answers for all the family, but in particularly for their mother, who is approaching 80-years-old.

She said: "My mum is nearly 80 now and she is just desperately worried about him. She is getting older and she believes her years are now numbered and doesn't want any more years to pass without knowing he is safe or not. We just miss him hugely.

"His daughter has got back in touch with us and we would love to find some answers for her."

Mrs Pickthall said the family have "no idea what has happened" to Mr Hodgson-Greaves.

She said that although he did have some mental health problems, there was no indication he planned on taking his own life.

Mrs Pickthall said: "He was under pressure as his marriage had failed and he had mental health problems, but no-one that knew him up to that time would have said anything like that was going to happen.

"We don't know whether he's just decided to take a bit of time out and sort himself out and start a new life.

Read more: Family’s plea for missing Riccall man to make contact"There is no evidence to suggest he is no longer on this earth and the people at Bempton Cliffs said to us there is always evidence when things like that happen and there is always something left behind. Also, with the nature of the cliffs there would be a body. There were many searches done and they were extremely thorough.

"No-one has ever seen imagery of him, he has not touched any bank accounts. It is just like he has been abducted by aliens or disappeared into thin air. We have absolutely no idea.

"It is a difficult situation to be in because we can't grieve the loss of him because we don't think he is no longer with us.

"We are desperate to find him but we don't even know where to look."

Mrs Pickthall said the family will never give up hope of finding Mr Hodgson-Greaves.

She recently appeared on the ITV programme Long Lost Family in a bid to find him.

She said: "We would hope Simon would realise that he knows we are looking for him and want him back and that he will make contact in someway to let us know he is safe.

"I want my brother back, but if he isn't ready we are more than happy for him just to let us know he is OK.

"Or if someone else knows something, if they could just make contact so they can let us know."

Mr Hodgson-Greaves is described as white, about 6ft and slim. He has sandy-coloured hair, a greying beard and moustache, blue eyes and wears glasses.

It is not known what he was wearing at the time of his disappearance, but police said he is known to dress very smartly and often wears tweed jackets, shirts and scarves.

Anyone who may know where Mr Hodgson-Greaves is, or might have seen him is asked to contact North Yorkshire Police on the non-emergency number of 101.