CLOTHING belonging to a man who has been missing for a week has been found, police said.
The items were recovered during the ongoing searches for 20-year-old Shaun Ritchie who was last seen in an open area of land between Strichen and the A98 Fraserburgh to Banff road in Aberdeenshire last Friday.
A helicopter, divers, dog-handlers and mountain rescue teams have all been involved in extensive searches in the area.
Inspector George Cordiner said: "We want to stress this is still a missing person inquiry.
"Items of Shaun's clothing have been found a distance from where he was last seen and this indicates that he may have been disorientated and seeking shelter.
"It is now a week since Shaun was last seen and as time goes by we are increasingly concerned for his welfare. We are continuing to search a large open area of land around where Shaun was last seen."
He said police officers will also be in the Fraserburgh area distributing posters as part of the search.
When last seen, Mr Ritchie was wearing dark grey skinny jeans, a white T-shirt, a grey hoodie and brown trainers.
His family earlier issued a statement appealing for anyone who had any information on his whereabouts.
They said: "With every passing day we're becoming more and more worried about Shaun. We all love him dearly and the last six days have been a nightmare, for all his family and friends, not knowing where he is.
"If anyone knows anything about where Shaun is, if they saw him last Friday night or since then, we'd ask them please, please get in touch with the police and give them any information you may have."
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