Facebook appeal for missing man ‘may harm police search’

AN ONLINE search for missing Hull man Stuart Gilson may be hampering police efforts to find him, a senior officer has warned.

The 21-year-old has not been seen since getting out of a taxi outside Vodka Revolution, a nightspot in Lowgate, at about 10.17pm on Saturday, about 20 minutes after he left a family party at the Embassy Hotel in Hedon Road following an argument.

He was reported missing by his family on Sunday afternoon after he failed to return home, and concern grew when Mr Gilson later failed to catch a ferry for a work-related trip to Amsterdam on Sunday evening.

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But although Mr Gilson’s distraught relatives have been conducting their own search alongside official police inquiries – distributing posters, following up leads and setting up a campaign on the social networking website Facebook – police are concerned that the online search in particular may not be as helpful as intended.

By yesterday afternoon, almost 3,700 people had signed up to the Facebook group “Missing Stuart Gilson”.

Officers are also understood to be concerned that the family’s posters, which refer to a possible sighting of Mr Gilson boarding a No 2 bus, may be distracting as the sighting has not been confirmed.

They are instead urging anyone who wants to help to use official police search posters instead.

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Det Insp Alan Bentham said: “Since being reported missing family and friends of Mr Gilson have conducted appeals through Facebook, spoken extensively to the media and have distributed posters in Hull and the surrounding area.

“This support should be commended. However, we are now urging people to report any information relating to the missing person inquiry directly to the police on 101. By reporting information to none-police contacts or online it makes it very difficult for us to respond.”

He continued: “A large volume of unconfirmed information is now in the public domain which has the potential of making it difficult for police to follow appropriate lines of inquiry and I would therefore urge the media to use the appeal information submitted via our media office as part of any news features.

“Finally, if people wish to display posters to assist in the search for Mr Gilson they are asked to use the poster attached.”

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Mr Gilson’s sister Kimberley, 24, said it presented a dilemma as she understood that the high volume of information may be confusing, but the family did not want to ignore any possible lead.

She said: “What we are saying is whatever is put on Facebook, if it’s not 100 per cent positive then don’t, but anything people may know, it could be a lead.”

She added: “Everybody is massively worried because it’s so not like him. We are all going out of our minds; it’s torture for everybody.”

Family and friends yesterday visited Wawne Ferry and the Stratstone BMW and Mini garage in Hull after reported sightings of Mr Gilson there, and have asked the garage to review CCTV footage.

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Mr Gilson is 5ft 7in, of medium build, has short, dark brown hair, and was last seen wearing a grey polo shirt, black training shoes and jeans. Anyone with information can call police on the non-emergency number 101.

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