Police widen woodland search for missing 18-year-old

Lewis Penfold-Roche was last seen on 28 January

An area of woodland is being searched in efforts to find an 18-year-old man who has been missing for more than two weeks.

Lewis Penfold-Roche was last seen in the Station Road of area of Billingham heading towards Central Avenue at about 18:00 GMT on 28 January.

Detectives said they had widened a search of woodland near to Billingham Beck Valley Country Park towards Billingham Golf Club, which is close to where Mr Penfold-Roche was last seen.

Cleveland Police said it was increasingly concerned about Mr Penfold-Roche's welfare and a range of tactics were being used in the search.

Police have widened their search of woodland in Billingham to try and find Lewis

Mr Penfold-Roche, who is described as having a London accent and being 6ft (1.83m) tall, was last seen wearing a red coat and carrying a white and green backpack.

Officers said he may be wearing a black jumper with The Nightmare Before Christmas character Jack Skellington on the front, or a black Adidas jumper with white stripes down the sleeves.

Det Insp Chris Pringle said: "I would like to appeal directly to Lewis to ask him to make contact with someone and let them know he is safe.

"You are not in any trouble - we just want to know that you are safe and well.

"We would continue to urge the public to let us know if they have any information as to Lewis' whereabouts or if anyone thinks they may have seen him since he went missing, please let us know as soon as possible."