EFFORTS to trace missing Scot Liam Colgan were bolstered by a "certain" sighting at bakery in Hamburg, last Wednesday.

The 29-year-old, from Inverness, has not been seen since last Saturday evening when he became separated from friends while on a stag do in the German city.

Thousands of posters have been put up around his last known location and his image has been spread across social media.

There are few clues to aid investigators and Liam's bank account has not been active since he and his group arrived for the break.

However, a bakery worker has come forward claiming to have seen the man looking "lost and confused" nearby.

Bettina Diwinski said a colleague saw Liam at Dietz bakers in Buxtehude on Wednesday – four days after he vanished.

She told the Sunday Mail: "We saw a photograph of the man in the newspapers and we realised he had been here.

"One of my colleagues is certain she saw him.

"He looked lost and confused and then he left the shop. He looked lonely."

She added: "We recognised he had been here. We called police and they came to take some information from us.

"They used the police dog to track the scent and we heard it went to the train station.

"We just hope he is found. It's a terrible thing and we hope that he can be found safe."

Her comments follow reports of other alleged sightings of Liam in Buxtehude, a town which lies around 15 miles south of Hamburg.

Liam's brother Eamonn raised the alarm last Saturday, February 10, when he woke up and discovered his brother was not in the room they were sharing.

He had not been seen since he left the Veermaster bar in the Reeperbahn district of the city at about 1.30am.

He called police in Hamburg who have since been in contact with hospitals and taxi companies and have interviewed witnesses.

Search dogs have also been used and Liam's picture circulated online and to media outlets.

On Saturday, Eamonn and other family members were given permission from football club Hamburg SV to hand out missing posters at their home game against Bayer Leverkusen.

Liam and the stag party group had been staying at the AO hostel in Hamburg's Spaldingstrasse.

Eamonn said: "These inquiries are being looked at and his phone has been off since the Friday evening when we went out to the Reeperbahn.

"Bank traces are ongoing but there have been no hits since Liam paid for our hostel around the time we arrived there. The witnesses in Buxtehude give us hope, but we're keeping an open mind about it all.

"It's positive, in that they are possible sightings and it means people are looking out for him.

"But it's not absolutely certain it is him and we still need that further proof.

"We're just trying to stay positive and trying to do all we can to keep his photograph out there and hopefully get the breakthrough we're all desperate for."

Yesterday, flyers remained pinned to walls outside the bar where Liam became separated from the rest of the group. However, the hunt has been hindered as police cannot access CCTV from the bar where Liam was drinking – due to the manager forgetting the password.

Family members also criticised German police for their handling of the investigation so far.

In an interview with the BBC, Liam's friend Alan Pearson accused officers of not treating the matter seriously and said that officers had given "mock replies" when his disappearance was first reported.

The Hamburg Police Facebook page, which has in excess of 100,000 followers, described Liam as being "heavily intoxicated" when he went missing.

Only one appeal has been issued via the Facebook page, but was shared more than 800 times.