THE story of a man who went missing near Worcester is to feature in an ITV documentary next week.

Matthew Bone, who was from Portsmouth and was studying for a PhD in Environmental Science, went missing from his home where he lived with his family on March 4, 2018.

In the days that followed, he travelled more than 140 miles north to the village of Callow End.

There is no evidence to suggest whether or not he died or what happened to him after being seen in Callow End, and his family is using the episode of ITV's Long Lost Family, which airs at 9pm on Monday to ask questions about his disappearance.

His father Mike said: "Did he want to disappear? Has he taken time out? Has he been kidnapped? We want to know what’s happened.”

At the time of his disappearance, 26 year-old Matt had moved back home to work on his thesis and was struggling with the workload.

His mother Karen said: "We explained to him that if he didn’t want to continue that was fine, we would support him in whatever he wanted to do.

"He was determined he was going to get through it somehow."

As part of the documentary, host Nicky Campbell visits DI Dave Knight from West Mercia Police to find out more about the investigation.

DI Knight said: "There is every possibility that Matt is still alive.

"There has not been any indication whatsoever that Matt is intent on taking his own life."

The documentary claims that DI Knight believes Matt may still be out there somewhere, living under the radar of the authorities.

He also told the Worcester News that there is currently no update on the search.

In March this year, West Mercia Police renewed their appeal to try and find Matthew Bone.

At the time, Matt's sister Katie told the Worcester News: "We are glad the appeal has been renewed, and we hope that the fresh appeal can jog the memories of the people of Worcester and Malvern who may have seen him.

"It is reassuring that the search is still ongoing as it has been really difficult for us as a family being so far away from where he went missing."

Anyone who sees Matthew or has any information about his whereabouts is asked to call West Mercia Police on 101 quoting incident number 410S of March 11 or confidentially call the Missing People Charity on 116 000.

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