IT IS four weeks ago today that a factory worker from Mold disappeared without a trace.
Michael Murphy was last seen leaving the Convatec factory on Deeside Industrial Park on Wednesday, January 4.
It is understood the 32-year-old had clocked on for his early-morning shift and made a cup of tea before leaving work unannounced.
His abandoned Volkswagen Polo was later recovered by police from the Flintshire Bridge, which runs from Deeside Industrial Park to Flint across the River Dee.
Family and friends – led by My Murphy’s former Argoed High School classmate, Annette Thomas – mounted a campaign to raise the profile of the search.
More than 8,300 people have joined a group on Facebook, set up to trace his whereabouts, and celebrities including Katie Price and Peter Andre have re-tweeted an appeal for information via Twitter.
It is hoped the Facebook group will reach 8,500 members today to mark the anniversary.
Miss Thomas said: “The campaign is going well. We are hoping to get 8,500 members, which would be fab. But we want more people to be wearing yellow ribbons and we would like people to keep displaying the posters and get the message out there.”
A ‘tweet night’ is also planned for this evening, where people on Twitter are encouraged to tweet about Mr Murphy at the same time.
Wales captain and Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey filmed a YouTube appeal for his safe return and an announcement was also made to 8,000 fans at Wrexham’s Racecourse stadium during the Reds’ third round FA Cup replay against Brighton.
North Wales Police staged a reconstruction of Mr Murphy’s last-known movements on the Flintshire Bridge, and missing person posters have been put up as far afield as Anglesey, where Mr Murphy used to holiday as a child. A new website for non-users of social networking websites has also been launched to widen the search net.
See www.helpfindmichaelmurphy.com for more information.