POLICE are back searching the river Ouse for Skipton man Rory Johnson-Hatfield who went missing in York on November 20, 2015.

The probe is expected to cover the stretch from Skelderdale on the outskirts of the city to Naburn lock, a distance of about five miles.

A North Yorkshire police spokesperson said: "As part of a review into the disappearance of Rory Johnson Hatfield who was reported missing in November 2015, the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Underwater Search Team are conducting sonar searches of the river Ouse this week.

"This activity has been planned in advanced as part of the review and is not in response to any new information."

The 29-year-old's father, Doug Hatfield, a former restaurateur in Skipton, said: "We are absolutely delighted with this new search."

"We are still hoping for somebody to come forward who may have seen Rory at any time on the evening of Thursday the 19th November 2015.

"Rory is a much loved and well known character in the Dales and I am sure everyone who knows Rory will agree, we just need him back home. We all miss him terribly."

Extensive river searches for Rory, who worked as a waiter at Brody's Pizzeria in Skipton, were carried out by police underwater teams and the York Rescue Boat in the weeks after he disappeared, though these were seriously hampered by the heavy floods that hit the city.