'Good natured' family man Peter Baglin left his home just three days after Christmas. He told his wife Michelle he was going out for a walk to 'clear his head' - but has not yet returned.
It was night-time and was pitch black outside. Worried for him, Michelle called him to check where he was. He assured her he 'would be home soon'. A week on from his disappearance, police, his family and a strong local community are still desperately searching for him.
Peter Baglin, 55, from the Boothstown area, was reported missing to the police after Michelle's repeated follow up calls to him went to voicemail, before his phone then appeared to be turned off. The last confirmed sighting of him was CCTV footage of him at the Texaco garage on the East Lancs Road, Mosley Common, at 7.38pm last Wednesday (December 28).
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The driver, who works for Salford Royal Hospital, as does his partner Michelle, has not been seen since. Despite some possible sightings and extensive woodland and canal searches, Peter has not yet been found but his family will never give up.
Michelle, his partner of almost thirty years, told the Manchester Evening News that he told her he had gone for a walk to 'clear his head' but never returned home that evening.
Despite the last confirmed sighting of Peter being at the petrol station a short walk away minutes later, wife Michelle says she spoke to him on the phone at around 8.15pm, where he told her he was going for a walk along the main road and down to the canal.
She said she urged him not to go down to the canal, a route he regularly takes as he is fond of walking, because it was dark - to which assured her he 'would be home soon'.
"He just went for a walk and didn't come back. I worry he could be out injured somewhere. There is no way he would be away from me and his family. He loves us and wouldn't put us through this," Michelle told the Manchester Evening News.
"We just can't understand what has happened. It is so out of character for him. There haven't been any other confirmed sightings of him apart from at the garage - it is like he has just completely disappeared."
Michelle said Peter, a dad of two, grandad of four, and great-grandad of one, has been a huge support for her throughout the years - notably two years ago when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Smiling, she said told of how he always says: "Michelle, you are my world."
The day he went missing (December 28) which Peter had booked off work to spend with Michelle after the couple had been working over the Christmas period, was 'normal', with them heading out to Screwfix to buy a new part for their toilet that had broken. Michelle said Peter is healthy and does not suffer with any mental health problems.
"We were looking forward to having some time together because we have both been working over Christmas because we work for the NHS. He had booked the Wednesday off and we were going to spend the Thursday and Friday together too," Michelle said.
Since his disappearance a week ago, specialist search teams have been out trawling through woodland and the nearby Bridgewater Canal. The local community have also been a huge pillar of support for his family and friends, who have been taking part in a search operation organised by wife Michelle.
The mum-of-three has been making a growing list of places to cover, assigning areas to different people who have volunteered their time to help. The searches have so far taken them as far as Glazebrook, Culcheth, Astley, Swinton, Kearsley and Irlam.
"The community has just been so amazing. We have had 100 people down to the canal and elsewhere looking for him," Michelle added. "I don't want to stop - as a family we need to be out doing something.
"We can't get over how there has been no other signs of him at all. Because most people come back within five days, the investigation has now been escalated.
"What the police tell me is never going to be enough, because they don't know what has happened. Nobody has had any confirmed sightings of him apart from in the Texaco garage that night.
"There was nothing leading up to him going missing that would have tipped him over the edge. We just don't understand it at all. There is no reason, no explanation."
Peter was last seen wearing navy coloured joggers, walking shoe type trainers and a grey Mountain Equipment hoodie with a red zip and distinctive white lining and a hat. He is described as being 5ft 10ins in height, with grey hair, and a tattoo on the left side of his neck that says 'Michelle'. He is also wearing his wedding ring.
After days of extensive searching, Michelle said Peter's hat, phone, bank cards, tobacco, house key, headphones and an empty bottle of whiskey have now been recovered, with some items close to the canal embankment at the bottom of Vicars Hall Lane. Searches are still ongoing to trace Peter.
"He was the first person to help others, especially the homeless. I want people to think of what they would do if they saw someone needing help, and hope they would do the same for him.
"So many people just want him home, and so do I."
Officers are asking anyone who may have seen Peter, or anyone with any other information regarding Peter's whereabouts, to contact them on the switchboard 0161 856 8351 or 0161 856 7857, via 101 or by speaking to the independent charity – Crimestoppers – anonymously on 0800 555 111.
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