'My brother walked out the door and vanished'

Emma Miller said her family "hold on to hope" that her brother James will be found

The sister of a man who disappeared nearly five years ago has said his family "holds on to hope" that they will see him again.

Emma Miller said her older brother James Miller, then 38, left the family home in Warrington carrying only his wallet at around 23:00 GMT on 22 December 2020.

CCTV footage from a hair salon on the same road showed him turning a corner and disappearing from sight.

Emma said she knew something was wrong when James did not turn up for work the following day.

James, standing on the right, pictured with his sisters Catherine and Emma and his brother Luke

Emma said the family wanted to renew the appeal for any information which could help find James, four years and eight months on.

Emma, 35, said: "In a way, we don't cope because it's always on your mind. There's not one minute of the day when we don't think about him.

"I drive around and I might see someone and think that it is him."

She said it was difficult but the family had to continue living their lives "in limbo".

"I have really bad days. I think we all do," she said.

She said there had been some reported sightings of James over the years, but these had not brought the family any closer to finding him.

James's grandad, who was like a father to him, has died since James went missing.

Emma said: "It's even more devastating because I don't know if James knows that he has passed away."

"We hold on to hope and that's the big thing," Emma added.

"If he is reading this then we'd like to say how much we love him and we miss him.

"We hope he's safe. The door's always open for him."

Emma Miller said Christmas was a particularly difficult time of year for the family as he went missing on 22 December 2020

Emma said her mother had been in bed when she heard the front door of her home on Slater Street, Latchford, open.

She looked out of the window to see James walking down the street.

CCTV footage from Colin Williams Hairdressers showed him walking down the street and turning right onto Florence Street, which leads to Knutsford Road.

He was wearing a white T-shirt, grey jogging bottoms and navy blue trainers.

"He turned right and then completely vanished," said Ms Miller.

"It was raining that night and we had snow. It was freezing."

Emma said her brother had been having symptoms of depression for a few years and going through lockdown during the coronavirus pandemic "really took a toll on him".

She said James had built gearboxes for a business in Warrington then called Black Diamond and now called Warrington Transmissions.

Emma said she knew something was wrong when a work colleague called her to say he had not turned up to work on 23 December.

She said he had worked there since he was young and "always went to work, even if he had had a heavy night".

Emma Miller said she and her brother would go to Warrington Wolves games together

She said James supported Warrington Wolves rugby team and Bolton Wanderers FC and they would often travel the country watching Warrington Wolves games together.

She said: "He is a good guy. He is quite shy until you get to know him, and then he is the life of the party."

She added he was "the best uncle in the world" and loved his nieces and nephews, as well as enjoying bike rides along the Trans Pennine cycle path.

Emma said her brother also has a distinctive curved scar on the side of his head close to one of his eyes after an operation to remove a benign brain tumour when he was younger.

She said the family were grateful for the support of Cheshire Police, the Missing People charity and the local community.

Each year on the anniversary of his disappearance, the family holds a candlelit vigil for James in nearby Victoria Park, where James would regularly go for family picnics.