‘My husband went for a walk like Nicola Bulley a year ago – people don’t just vanish’

Lucy Creaney urged the family of Nicola Bulley to “keep the faith”, saying “people don’t just vanish”

The wife of a man who went missing a year ago has urged the family of Nicola Bulley to “keep the faith”, saying “people don’t just vanish”.

Lucy Creaney said she still believes her husband, Finn Creaney, who went missing nearly a year ago after he started a solo hike in Loch Naver, Sutherland, is still alive.

She has urged Ms Bulley’s family to say positive as the search for the missing dog walker was expanded to the sea – some 12 miles downriver from where she was last seen.

Mr Creaney was dropped off by a family member at a caravan park near the start of where he hoped to embark on a solo hike on 25 March.

The father of one, from near Tain, Scotland, has not been seen since and his wife said that the uncertainty of his whereabouts was causing the family “torture” and “pain”.

Lucy Creaney still believes her husband Finn Creaney is alive (Lucy Creaney)

Speaking to The Telegraph, she said that she was still hopeful that the family will “bring him home”, as the first anniversary of his disappearance looms.

She said: “But as the family of missing mother Nicola Bulley will know, the uncertainty is torture, it is pain. You don’t know how it will end, but you have to believe you will find the person you’ve lost. People don’t just vanish off the face of the earth.”

The mum continued to say that she believed that Mr Creaney, who would now be aged 33, is still alive “because there’s nothing to suggest he is not”.

Like Ms Bulley’s case, the police and search and rescue teams covered much ground to help find him, with the hunt covered on foot, by air and in the water.

Mr Creaney, who was an “experienced and confident survivalist” was meant to embark on a lone 40-kilometre hike, despite the unseasonably hot spring weekend.

A family member had dropped him off at a caravan park on the B873 road at 2.15pm, and he had planned to walk around the loch before heading south to Golspie.

This was his final confirmed sighting, with his phone cutting off at 1.47pm in the village of Lairg.

The last time his wife heard from him was in a voicemail he left at 12.52pm, where he told her “I love you lots and I’m really proud of you”.

(Lucy Creaney)

Nevertheless, she hoped that Mr Creaney would be home by midday on Sunday - just as he promised - but when he had still not appeared by Monday Mrs Creaney reported him as missing to the police.

Extensive searches were carried out by police, mountain rescue, and coastguard teams in the following weeks, but he was never found.

Mrs Creaney is still insistent her husband had no reason to disappear of his own volition, describing him as a “lovely, happy, giving soul”, as she urged Nicola’s family to stay strong.

She said: “What I’d say to Nicola’s family is keep the faith.

“You can’t control the situation, that’s one of the hardest things in a missing person case, but you can believe in the person you love and try not to give in to despair.”

The mum and her relatives are continuing their search, and have set up a Facebook page to raise awareness of his case.