Missing Josh, 1 Week On

Police have carried out anniversary checks in the area that a missing man was last seen a week ago.

Joshua Smith, 27, who is known as Josh to his family and friends, was last seen walking along Copeland Drive, Stone, at 8:38am on Tuesday 25 October. He was captured on CCTV walking towards the canal.

Josh, who is from the Aston area of Stone, is described as white, of thin build, 5ft 10ins tall with blue eyes. He has light-coloured hair which is longer on top, a bushy beard and wears glasses. He was last seen wearing a black three-quarter length coat, black work boots and a mustard backpack.

DI Nicki Furlong, from the Force Safeguarding and Investigations department, said: “Officers are maintaining a presence in the area Josh was last seen and yesterday (Tues) we carried out anniversary checks. Appeal leaflets were handed out in a bid to jog people’s memory in case they saw Josh last week.

“Over the past week we’ve received numerous unconfirmed sightings and pieces of information. This information is constantly being collated and analysed to identify any new lines of inquiry and inform future searches.

“We know that Josh loves the countryside and nature, and therefore we think there is a strong possibility that he has walked to an isolated rural location.

“CCTV enquiries indicate he joined the canal towpath off Copeland Drive, but from here he could have gone either way, towards Great Haywood or Barlaston.

“Although there is no indication that Josh has entered the canal we organised a team of police divers (pictured) to search a 3km section of water in this area as a precaution but nothing was found.

“We’d like to thank everyone for the continued efforts helping to search for Josh to date. We’re really thankful to the public for their help in spreading this appeal, the community spirit has been overwhelming and I know Josh’s family are very grateful for the support.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact Staffordshire Police on 101, quoting incident number 639 of October 25.