The family of a missing pensioner who they believe has gone on a bizarre survival mission have joined police combing local woodland as fears grow for his safety.

Peter Butterfield, a former soldier who served in the Malaysian jungle, went missing from his Cullingworth home five days ago with no food, clothes or money.

His distraught family fear it is a repeat of his disappearance six years ago when he survived in woods for three weeks.

Today they launched an emotional plea for him to come home. The 67-year-old's youngest son Trevor, 28, warned: "He thinks he can survive out there on his own but he can't.''

He is begging anyone who thinks they may have seen his father, who was being treated for depression, to contact the police.

He said: "He's got no money, no spare clothes and no food that we know of with him and has lost quite a bit of weight recently, so we're really worried about him.

"He's always loved the outdoors - walking, camping and fishing - and we think that's where he's got this idea into his head about surviving on his own out in the woods."

Trevor and brothers Phillip, 30, and Nicholas, 29, have spent hours helping police scour the countryside for their father, a former engineer and butcher, since he disappeared last Wednesday.

The West Yorkshire Police helicopter and officers with dogs have also been used in the search, which has covered many of the outdoor loving pensioner's favourite haunts.

Trevor said the disappearance had left their mother Betty devastated and deeply upset the older of their father's six grandchildren, who are aged between one and four.

Trevor, of Parkside Terrace, Cullingworth, added: "The same thing happened about six years ago - he'd gone back to Baildon where he was brought up and was living out in the woods at Tong Park. He was found about three weeks later suffering with hypothermia and frostbite. Even if he doesn't want to come home we'd just like him to phone and let us know he's safe and well.

Peter Butterfield is about 6ft 1in and slim with short hair, which is receding and balding. When he went missing he was wearing a green wax jacket, an airforce-blue pullover and grey trousers.

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