{"id":2711,"date":"2026-04-12T15:44:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T15:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/2711\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T15:44:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T15:44:12","slug":"desperate-hunt-launched-for-brit-who-vanished-in-spain-on-day-due-to-travel-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/2711\/","title":{"rendered":"Desperate hunt launched for Brit who vanished in Spain on day due to travel home"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Daniel Strange, 70, vanished on Thursday the same day he was due to start the long drive back to the UK in his van after staying at a friend’s apartment in Almeria, Spain<\/p>\n

16:22, 12 Apr 2026Updated 16:34, 12 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

\"Paul<\/p>\n

Paul Strange’s family are appealing for help to find him(Image: SOLARPIX.COM)<\/p>\n

A family are appealing for a missing man who disappeared after being due to travel back to the UK from Spain.<\/p>\n

Paul Daniel Strange, 70, vanished<\/a> on Thursday the same day he was due to start the long drive back in his van from the fishing<\/a> and tourist town of Palomares in Almeria to Essex where he lives.<\/p>\n

The retired builder and locksmith, from Leigh-on-Sea, had been staying at a friend\u2019s apartment.<\/p>\n

And today his worried loved ones revealed police had begun a search for the pensioner as the mystery of his whereabouts deepened and they said a neighbour had seen him leaving the property.<\/p>\n

\"Mr<\/p>\n

Mr Strange disappeared as he was due to drive back to the UK(Image: SOLARPIX.COM)<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Donald Trump announces US blockade of Strait of Hormuz in shocking outburst<\/a>READ MORE: Jet2 ‘arrive early’ alert for anyone travelling to popular European destination<\/a><\/p>\n

But a friend who then let himself into the apartment after Paul went missing found belongings of his including a computer and clothes inside.<\/p>\n

Father-of-three Mr Strange\u2019s son, also called Paul, said: \u201cWe\u2019re obviously extremely worried and have already contacted police in Essex who have been in touch with Interpol and as we understand it, spoken to Spanish police so they can begin searching for him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just want him to get in touch with us if he sees this message. His phone was switched off on Thursday and the following day a message came up saying it was unavailable. It\u2019s extremely unlike Dad not to stay in touch.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just want him to get in touch with us if he sees this message. His phone was switched off on Thursday and the following day a message came up saying it was unavailable. It\u2019s extremely unlike Dad not to stay in touch.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe drives down to Spain regularly to see friends so he knows his way around and when he makes the return journey he always rings my mum every few hours and relies on her to book somewhere for him to stay on the way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis time there\u2019s been nothing. He was due to leave his accommodation last Thursday to drive to Calais. He drives a silver Sprinter van which is about six or seven years old and has a picture of a Carp fish on the back.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a UK-plated vehicle with the registration YE19 FAU. My dad\u2019s originally from east London so speaks with a London accent, and he\u2019s got a birth mark on his left temple.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we can\u2019t fathom is the fact that a neighbour saw him leaving the place where he was staying on Thursday which was the day he was due to start the drive home after arriving in Palomares on Good Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut when a friend got into the apartment to check up on him he saw he\u2019d left belongings inside including a laptop and clothes. He had a small bag with money and his passport on him but the stuff he\u2019d left are not the sort of things someone wouldn\u2019t take with them if they weren\u2019t planning on coming back.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cMy dad is a healthy, happy bloke and not someone with any reason to voluntarily disappear. This is obviously completely out-of-character and very worrying.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Daniel Strange, 70, vanished on Thursday the same day he was due to start the long drive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2712,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[695,1988,17],"class_list":["post-2711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-spain","tag-breaking-news","tag-missing-persons","tag-spain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2711"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2711\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2711"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}