SEARCH and rescue volunteers spent several hours combing a disused industrial site in an attempt to trace a man who has not been seen for three months.

Despite several emotional pleas from Darren Waller’s former partner and his three children, there have been no positive sightings of him in his home town of Hartlepool.

His mother, Kathleen, made a Mother’s Day plea for her son to return home or for any information about his whereabouts.

Police officers and members of the Cleveland Search and Rescue Team searched the town’s dilapidated Steetley site, a former magnesium works, hoping to locate Mr Waller, but without success.

The 36-year-old, who was last seen on Sunday, January 9, in the Foggy Furze area of the town, has been known to walk his dog past the Steetley site.

Barry Warrington, a Cleveland Search and Rescue spokesman, said the site was extremely dangerous and the operation needed intricate planning to ensure the safety of those involved.

He said: “There was a team of 16 volunteers who were on the site from 9.30am until 1pm. It was a pretty dangerous site to search and the major hazard were drains and culverts, some of which had 15 foot drops after the manhole covers had been removed.

“It was a very difficult search to perform, but the team is highly experienced and trained to work in such locations.”

In February, police carried out an intensive search of a caravan park in the Crimdon area, near Hartlepool, which failed to turn up any new information.

Mr Waller’s three daughters, Kayleigh, 16, Ellie, eight, and Leah, five, and his former wife and close friend, Lisa Gleaves, are all desperate to know where he is.

There have been a number of unconfirmed sightings of Mr Waller since he disappeared.

Mr Waller is 5ft 8in, white, with a shaved head and tattoos on his hands and arms.

He was last seen wearing a blue sweater, dark blue jeans and trainers and had an earring in his left ear.