The partner of missing Burnham-On-Sea man Dean Tate has made an emotional TV appeal to help find him.
40-year-old Dean, right, was last seen at Burnham’s TA8s bar in Pier Street at around 2.30am on Saturday February 24th after earlier visiting the nearby Somerset and Dorset pub.
His partner, Sarah Reeves, was featured in an emotional BBC Points West interview on Wednesday evening.
“We are keeping busy and doing what we can to stay focussed on finding him,” she said, adding that she’s “finding it hard to understand how these days someone can go missing.”
“The Police have been absolutely brilliant and done everything they can, and so have the charities and organisations that have volunteered and joined in the search in the first few weeks.”
“I believe that the divers have only just finished their search of all the lakes around this area.”
Asked whether she is clinging onto the hope that Dean is alive, she said: “You have got to as there are no answers. There’s not a lot else you can do.”
“Part of you does feel like giving up, because it is such a difficult situation, but you can’t because if he is out there he needs us to carry on and try and find him.”
Sarah added: “I don’t believe he would be willingly out there, knowing that we are here.”
“He wouldn’t have left his sons, he wouldn’t have left us. He did everything that he could to provide for us.”
She added that it is so important for anyone with information to get in contact with the Police.
“Any information is important, however little,” she said. “We have information up to 2.30am and a possible sighting on someone’s private CCTV but it’s nort clear enough to know whether it’s him or not, so we can’t go by that.”
“It’s quite a quiet town so for anyone to have seen him after that time, especially if he’s gone into the housing estates, is probably not going to be very likely, but we need anything at the moment because there is nothing.”
On the launch of the crowd-funding campaign, she said: “I have got some amazing friends that have helped me. A friend set up the page when he first went missing.”
“A few of the ladies have said to me about fundraising for a reward for information and it’s gone really well.”
“I was a bit sceptical at first because we didn’t want more hoaxes and people saying they have seen him. We have had some quite spiteful people that have come forward with information that just isn’t true.”
“I was a little worried about that, but with the information out there that the reward will only go to the someone who has valid information that is going to lead us to find him, I am hoping that it will bring anyone forward that may have seen him on that night or afterwards.”
Earlier this week, we reported here that members of the ‘Find Dean Tate’ community group have started a fundraising campaign.
Accessed here, it aims to raise £1,000 as a reward that will be given to a person or people that provide concrete evidence as to what has happened to Dean.
The money will only be given to a person or people that provide concrete evidence as to what has happened to Dean. Any additional money will be split between various organisations who have assisted in the search for Dean.
The money will be “an incentive for legitimate information” leading to finding Dean.
Police have issued these photos of Dean Tate in the search for him
If you see Dean, or have information which could help Burnham-On-Sea Police, call 101 and provide the call handler with the reference 5218042329.
Dean is white, 5ft 8ins tall, of medium build with short dark brown hair and brown eyes.
When he was last seen he was wearing a black short-sleeved T-shirt with badges on the arms, black jeans and black Nike trainers. He also wore a heavy brown leather Superdry jacket.
