Laurence Dollimore
THE family of a Scotsman who vanished while in Spain two years ago have issued a fresh appeal for information.
Gary Shearer, from Renfrew in Scotland, was 53 when he travelled to the Lanzarote in the Canary Islands on March 16, 2023.
He was heading to Puerto del Carmen to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and was last seen on CCTV walking with a man, thought to be aged in his 60s or 70s, in the early hours of March 17.
His mother Ann McMurray and niece Darcie Deeney will travel to the Canary Islands for two weeks on Thursday in a bid to find new clues.
Darcie, 26, told Scotland’s Daily Record: “We just felt it was time. Deep down, we knew he was never coming back, but it takes a long time to accept that. This is the only way we can try to get some sort of closure.
“We’ll go across Lanzarote and the other islands. It’s going to be a lot, but we just want justice for Gary. Our family deserves to know what happened to him.
“We just hope this appeal will refresh someone’s memory and bring us some information so the police will reopen the case. Just one small detail could be the missing puzzle piece.
“It’s all up to us, so we just want as much publicity as possible to get Gary’s name out there and make sure people on the island hear what our family has gone through.”
Speaking to STV News last year, Gary’s father Daniel Shearer said: “It’s been hell. It’s like being on pause You just can’t get on with life because you feel like you want to do something but you can’t do anything.
“It’s nagging at you all the time. You say to yourself, ‘I could have done this, I could have done that’ but you can’t go back on things…
“I went over to Lanzarote with him and when he said he was going himself back over to Lanzarote, I said I wasn’t going – the guilt I feel now because I said I wasn’t going. If I had been with him, it would never have happened. Never.”
The last night he was seen, Gary was wearing a Celtic top, shorts and white Nike trainers with green and yellow colouring.
He is around five feet two inches tall, has short hair, and walks with a limp. He also suffers from epilepsy and type 2 diabetes, according to his family.
People with information about Gary’s disappearance can call +44 07722 094907 or +44 07305 243618.
