Search vow in four-month hunt for missing person

Volunteer search teams say they will keep on looking for a person who disappeared about four months ago.

Montgomery "Monty" Lewis, 26, was last seen in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, in early December, with their family reporting them missing to police in February.

That report prompted targeted searches supported by West Mercia Search and Rescue (WMSAR) around Haughmond Hill, a 300‑hectare (741-acre) beauty spot, east of Shrewsbury.

"This is an example of an ongoing search. These can last hours, days, even months," explained WMSAR trustee Steve Arnold.

"We are continually updating the information we receive from the police and we are continually finding new areas to search.

"There's lower probability as the time goes on that we're going to actually find them but as long as the police keep asking, we'll keep on looking."

WMSAR teams have used quad bikes, drones, boats and specialist river equipment to sweep woodland slopes and the River Severn below.

The charity can draw on 112 operational volunteers who are skilled in operating in difficult terrain, as well as remote technical and IT support.

Lewis - who uses "they" and "them" as personal pronouns- has been described as 6ft 3in tall, slim, with shoulder‑length wavy-blonde hair, and was believed to have taken a black rucksack.

They were last known to be wearing a light-grey padded anorak with a faux‑fur hood.

WMSAR's work on the Severn is long‑established and the team had previously helped in major searches including the 2018 effort to locate Worcester student Tom Jones.

His drowning helped shape ongoing water‑safety work in the region, with WMSAR among agencies delivering public training through their Home and Dry campaign.

As part of this, volunteers provide cold‑water awareness sessions, river‑rescue demonstrations and advice aimed at preventing further drownings across Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

The charity claimed 2025 was one of its busiest years on record, with volunteers responding to more than 60 incidents.

They included 24 missing-person searches and multiple rescues in areas such as the Stiperstones and Carding Mill Valley.

About four-fifths of its funding comes from public donations, which support training programmes, custom vehicles and new technology to help locate vulnerable people.

Local businesses also contribute to ensure the team can maintain rapid‑response capability, the group said.

"We get no government, direct government funding," said Arnold.

"We do get some amount of money from the police and crime commissioner but we think that might be going away.

"He helps us with the insurances on our vehicles and buildings, which is great."

WMSAR volunteers come from a broad mix of backgrounds with Arnold claiming the charity had a wide spectrum of people, from solicitors to window cleaners.

Among them is volunteer Stuart Tyrer, from Wellington, a former expert diver who suffered a pulmonary embolism during a film‑production dive in 2020.

He later spent four months in a medical coma after contracting Covid‑19 in hospital.

Now back with the team, he has supported searches as a quad bike driver.

"The incidents we attend can be traumatic at times but there are little things we learn to do to just separate it from everyday life," Tyrer said.

"We get, I think, more return by bringing somebody back home to their family, giving them closure, which outweighs the problems, I think."

Despite extensive targeted searches at Haughmond Hill, West Mercia Police said Monty Lewis "could be anywhere in the UK".

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