Missing British food blogger Wilkes McDermid has reportedly been spotted in a Cape Town bakery.
|||Cape Town - Police and friends are still desperately searching for British food blogger Wilkes McDermid, 38, who disappeared on December 26 while on holiday in Cape Town but apparently surfaced in a bakery on Thursday.
McDermid was to have returned to the UK on Boxing Day but he never made it on to his flight after checking out of the Westin Grand hotel.
He was reported missing by his friend, whisky writer Bernard Gutman, on December 30 after he found McDermid’s belongings in the hotel room. Gutman at first thought McDermid had forgotten the belongings.
On Saturday, a worried
Gutman said McDermid was in good spirits when he last saw him on Christmas Eve.
The two exchanged messages on Christmas Day, and McDermid told him he would fly out the following day.
“I sent him a message on the 27th about the gift he left me. He didn’t reply, and I sent him another message and I also posted a message on his Facebook wall and there was no reply,” said Gutman.
By December 29 he was very worried.
“He wasn’t online at all for all those days and he didn’t reply to messages. He is always online. He was last seen on the Cape Grace Hotel’s CCTV camera on Boxing Day at 7.25pm, leaving that hotel, heading on to the bridge towards the Coke display and the main Waterfront area.”
However, missing persons organisation Pink Ladies reported McDermid was last seen at Rosa’s Bakery in Shortmarket Street on Thursday.
Director
Dessie Rechner said he was seen between 2.30pm and 3pm.
“He was still wearing the bright orange shirt, grey pants and the orange glasses. His hair was loose, not in a ponytail. Someone reported it, it was checked out by SAPS and people were interviewed,” she said.
The visit was confirmed by the bakery owner, who refused to be named.
The owner handed video footage of McDermid’s visit, taken from cameras inside the bakery, to the police.
The bakery owner said police had also questioned him and his wife. He was also told that Interpol was looking for McDermid. The owner was adamant there was no doubt it was McDermid who had visited his bakery.
Gutman said he could not comment on the Rosa’s Bakery sighting as he did not want to jeopardise the police investigation.
Police spokesman Colonel Andre Traut said
: “All leads are being followed, including his recent visit to a Shortmarket Street bakery.” - Sunday Independent