The Office actor Mackenzie Crook has issued an urgent appeal to help find his missing sister-in-law as he admits the family are "clutching at straws".
Laurel Aldridge, 62, was reported missing from her home in Walberton, in the Arundel area of West Sussex, on Tuesday, February 14 after missing a chemotherapy session. Appearing on Good Morning Britain, the actor said: "It's a week now, it was this time last Tuesday that she left the house with nothing but the clothes she was wearing, no keys, money, phone, and she's not been seen since."
The Pirates Of The Caribbean actor has urged people in the local area to check their sheds and outhouses. He added that her disappearance has been "agonising" for the family but they have a "strong suspicion" she is still in the local area.
"She was diagnosed with cancer last year and she missed her fifth chemo session last Tuesday and we think that's what has triggered some sort of crisis in her and she's gone off for a long walk somewhere," he said. "We are really clutching at straws now after a week.
'We are asking people to check all of those places in their garden."
The actor continued: "At the moment everyone is containing their emotions, I'm sure the time will come for that later but right now everyone is very determined and driven.
"We've got a strong suspicion that she is in the local area but that's just a hunch we're going on. We can't imagine that she has gone very far afield."
Despite their gut feeling that she may still be in the local area, he said that having so many wooded areas nearby was making the search "quite overwhelming".
He continued: "We have been combing the woodlands for a week now, we can only think she has hopefully taken shelter in a back garden, in a shed, in an outhouse, that's what we're hoping.
"We are asking people to check all of those places in their garden - even if they've done it before, to go back and check again. Now we are also asking people to check dashcam [footage] because there are specific roads the police think she may have crossed in that time."
Detective Sergeant Alan Fenn has also urged residents in the Walberton and Slindon areas to "check their outbuildings for any sightings of Laurel".
That actor said his sister-in-law was last seen wearing a bright blue fleece but with a grey coat over the top, a brown woolly hat, a turtle scarf and black trousers.
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays at 6am on STV.
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