An army of around 60 concerned residents including the wife of missing man Peter Baglin carried out a community search on Sunday morning. Wrapped tightly in their winter clothes with children and pets in tow, members of the community scoured the breadth of the Astley and Boothstown woodlands in hopes of finding the 55-year-old grandad.
It is now almost two months since Peter disappeared and there have been multiple searches involving friends, family and distraught members of the community. The search which was organised by admins of a Facebook group, began at a local pub just off the East Lancs and from there volunteers retraced Peter’s steps to where his belongings were found while others walked for miles on the East Lancs looking for clues.
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Speaking to the MEN one volunteer said: “We’ve been searching for him since the day we found out he was missing. The whole community is distraught, we can’t believe this has happened.
Another person added: “I saw today’s search on Facebook and thought I’d come down. People have bought their kids too.
“One of the searches we’ve done was all around Astley Moss and we still found nothing so we’ve decided to actually come to the spot where his stuff was found. The whole thing is really bizarre.”
Michelle Baglin, Peter’s wife was also at the search for a short while, speaking to the MEN she spoke of her gratitude at the support she has received from the community.
“The turnout from the community has been outstanding. I can’t fault the area, even his colleagues have taken part in the searches.
“They all know about Pete, most people know him. We’ve lived here for almost 20 years now so we’ve made some good friends.”
Peter Baglin was last seen nearby the Texaco Garage on East Lancs Road, Mosley Common, at around 7.38pm on December 28. That evening he spoke to his wife at around 8.15pm, where he told her he was on a walk to 'clear his head'.
He said he was going down to walk along Bridgewater Canal. She was worried, but he assured her he would 'be home soon'. He hasn't been home since.
In the days that followed, after police deployed huge search teams to the local area, trawling through woodland and with divers in the canal, a number of his belongings were found close to the embankment on Vicars Hall Lane. His hat, phone, bank cards, tobacco, house key and headphones have been recovered and are with police, but there have been no confirmed sightings of him.
Peter was last seen wearing navy coloured joggers, walking shoe type trainers and a grey Mountain Equipment hoodie with a red zip and distinctive white lining and a hat. He is described as being 5ft 10ins in height, with grey hair, and a tattoo on the left side of his neck that says 'Michelle'. He is also wearing his wedding ring.
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