MP intervenes over missing football executive

Thames Valley Police said Bernard Ross was in Grasse in the south of France on 31 October

An MP has asked the government to help find a former Uefa chief who has been missing for more than four weeks.

Bernard Ross, 51, who was a director of TV at the football body, left Oxford on 18 October and told his wife he was travelling to London to see his sister.

He is thought to be in France or Switzerland and Layla Moran MP has asked house of commons leader Andrea Leadsom if the government will help.

In response, Ms Leadsom said she would take up the case.

Police said Mr Ross travelled to the south of France on 18 October, was in Marseille four days later and in Grasse, near Cannes, on 31 October but may have travelled to Switzerland.

Thames Valley Police still believes he is in either country but his wife Jacinta Ross said the family had struggled to get information from police forces abroad.

'Living in limbo'

She said the complicated process was causing delays, which meant they found out about the last sighting in Grasse days after the event.

The family had not had any contact from the government to date, she said, but they welcomed Ms Moran's intervention.

Mr Ross lost his job with Uefa last year, and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in January and then spent six months in hospital.

He has four children and has been married for 20 years but has never disappeared like this before, according to his family.

His wife said the uncertainty was "unbearable" and meant they were "living in limbo". "The longer it goes on the harder it gets," she added.

Mr Ross worked at Uefa for nearly 11 years where he was director of TV production and digital services, and had been responsible for the Champions League and Euro 2016.