With the Marine Police still hunting for St. David?s man Christopher Pope who is feared lost at sea, a nearby family was given cause to reflect on their own missing loved one.

Frank Cabral, 71, has been missing from his Cove Valley, St. David?s home for just under a year with only groundless rumours keeping hopes alive.

His sister Esther Pitcher said: ?Our thoughts are still with him but deep down inside I think he?s gone.?

The anniversary of Mr. Cabral?s disappearance is on February 13. ?It will be a year since anyone has seen him.?

There were reported sightings of him living in the back of town said Mrs. Pitcher but she said that was unlikely considering her brother was suffering from Alzheimer?s Disease and his pension had been cut off.

?Who is going to put up with him for a year??

But she said every possible avenue had been looked into. ?We have searched high and low, in abandoned cars.?

?People still ask about him because people haven?t heard anything but what can I say? I don?t know where he is.?

Mrs. Pitcher believes he may have been fallen from a cliff and been swept to sea or has fallen in a hole.

?I wish the whole thing could be put to rest. He is still in our hearts but only God knows where he is.?

She said the hunt for Mr. Pope had stirred up her memories. Yesterday Police divers were again in the waters off Dolly?s Bay, St. David?s close to where Mr. Pope moored his brother?s sailboat .

On Saturday a concerned citizen had found a punt tied to it full of water which sparked the hunt. He was last seen two days earlier and Police say there are no indications he has left the island. Mr. Pope is English, about 6ft 3in with light brown hair and stubble and had been in Bermuda for about 30 years. Friends described him as someone who was unlikely to leave his leaking dinghy unattended for long and they fear he has fallen overboard.