As Lucy Creaney types another WhatsApp message to husband Finn, she stares at the grey ticks, wishing they would turn blue for ‘received’. She messages to say she loves him every day and tell him what their daughter Luna, five, and son Bran, 10 months, have been getting up to.
But there is never a reply.
Lucy has not seen or heard from Finn since March 25 last year, after the survival and bushcraft expert went hiking in the Scottish wilderness.
She was 31 weeks pregnant with Bran and ended up giving birth without him at her side – and her agonising wait for answers to what happened to him goes on.
On the one-year anniversary since their last “nice family hug”, the police launched a fresh appeal to find 33-year-old Finn.
And the case features in new Channel 5 series Vanished: The Hunt For Britain’s Missing People, which is hosted by news anchor Dan Walker and starts tonight.
Lucy, 28, from near Tain in the Highlands, says: “Finn’s never met Bran, who is crawling now and standing up. Every milestone hurts, it’s horrible Bran is yet to meet his daddy. I’ve been honest with Luna. We talk about Finn.
“She cries for him but she knows her daddy went for a walk and we’re doing all we can to bring him back. She’s probably very confused. I’ve been confused. No one likes the unknown but I don’t want to lie to her.
“She caught her first fish with one of Finn’s homemade rods and can make a fire. She remembers all the fun times camping with her daddy.”
Lucy and Finn, who she describes as a “loving family man”, married in August 2021 but have never celebrated an anniversary.
She realised something was wrong on Mother’s Day last year, when he had not returned from his weekend adventure in Sutherland. “Finn left on Friday, we had a nice family hug before he left,” she says.
“I got a message from him at 12.52pm saying he’d finished for the day. But later, his phone was cut off. He’d promised to be home on Sunday, which was Mother’s Day, but weirdly he didn’t message me.
“When I didn’t hear anything I started panicking. I thought his phone had died or he’d misjudged the walk. I called his work on Monday to see if he’d turned up but he hadn’t. I thought, ‘Is this happening?’ and reported him missing. I felt silly but it didn’t make any sense. He’s an expert, he’s done lots of walks.”
Lucy tried to stay calm as she was heavily pregnant, saying: “You’re trying not to have high blood pressure but I was very concerned. I knew he’d want to be there. He knew we were having a boy and was so excited. I still remember the look of awe when I gave birth to Luna.
“He loves his children more than anything but as the due date got closer I thought, ‘Oh my God, is he going to make it?’ Every day you’re thinking, ‘Today’s the day he comes home, today’s the day, today’s the day.’”
Lucy still messages Finn – a keen survivalist who logged his experiences on his own YouTube channel, WildCat Bushcraft – every day and keeps photos and pictures so he does not miss anything. She says: “I message saying ‘I love you’. The blue tick on WhatsApp never changes.”
Lucy does not believe Finn has harmed himself, saying they were incredibly happy after starting their family.
“He’s very upfront,” she says. “If he wasn’t happy, he’d tell you. There’s no evidence of a campfire, nothing to suggest he came off the road. He may have hit his head and wandered off. He could have been taken. He wouldn’t abandon his family.”
Lucy and Finn’s dad, Mark, have spent the year searching, printing thousands of leaflets and posters. She adds: “You have to explore all possibilities. I have to find out the answers for myself and for the children. It’s an extreme situation. There’s no new normal, nothing is normal any more.”
* Vanished: The Hunt for Britain’s Missing People, starts tonight, 9pm, Channel 5.
