Missing Scott Clive's mother's appeal for new witnesses 17 years on

Scott Clive's mother Patricia believes someone knows what happened to her son

The mother of a man who vanished 17 years ago is appealing for help to solve the mystery.

Scott Clive, 30, was last seen on a night out in North Shields on 10 October 2002.

A murder investigation was launched, but in 2008 police said they thought Mr Scott had fallen in to the River Tyne.

No body was found and now Mr Clive's mother Patricia urged any witnesses who had stayed silent to come forward and get the case reopened.

'In limbo'

Mrs Clive said: "We really want witnesses to come forward - after 17 years they may feel they can now come forward.

"Maybe they have moved away or moved on - we need them to help us. We are in limbo.

"We can't move on until we know what happened.

"We didn't agree with the police's end result. We can't move on until we find out what happened. There were people involved - we don't think Scott just happened to fall in the water."

Patricia Clive (pictured in 2007) said she believed her son had been "with people"

Mr Clive, a labourer, had moved to North Shields from Stranraer, in Scotland, 10 months earlier.

He was close to his family and was reported missing after no-one had heard from him for several days.

Eight people were arrested on suspicion of being involved in Mr Clive's murder, but no-one was ever charged.

In 2008, police concluded that Mr Clive had fallen in the water after a witness came forward to say they had seen a man fitting his description near the water's edge on the night he vanished.

Mrs Clive said she was mystified when she was offered a death certificate for her son after the murder inquiry ended.

She said she needed new witnesses to come forward to get the police to re-investigate.

Mr Clive was close to his family and would ring his mother every few days