Esther Dingley: Missing hiker search 'off until weather improves'

Esther Dingley sent this photo of her at the top of a mountain on 22 November

The search for a British hiker who went missing in the Pyrenees has been called off indefinitely, police have said.

Esther Dingley, 37, last messaged her partner Dan Colegate via WhatsApp on 22 November, when she was on top of Pic de Sauvegarde on the France-Spain border.

Ms Dingley, who was on a solo trek, was reported missing on 25 November.

Spanish police said searches were paused by heavy snow and would not resume until the "weather improves", but could not say when that would be.

A spokeswoman for the Guardia Civil refused to give an update on a police investigation into Ms Dingley's disappearance.

French Police also said searches on their side of the mountains were off due to the snow.

A spokesman said the route taken by Ms Dingley would be "really dangerous" in the summer and worse in winter, while a theory circulating online that she may have been hurt by an animal such as a bear or wolf was "highly unlikely".

However, Mr Colegate challenged the police's assessment of the route as dangerous.

He said it was a popular path, the weather was fine and Ms Dingley was an experienced walker who was well prepared.

Esther Dingley and Dan Colegate had always been keen travellers

Mr Colegate, who had been staying in a farm house in the Gascony area of France while his partner went for a month-long solo trip in the couple's campervan, previously said police were looking at "non-accident" possibilities.

He also said he was extremely grateful to both Spanish and French search teams for their efforts, which have included helicopter sweeps of the area and teams and dogs walking the mountains.

On the weekend she set out on the trek, the couple's story about their adventures around Europe in the camper van since 2014 was published by BBC News.

Ms Dingley had started walking from Benasque in Spain and had planned to spend 22 November, when she was last heard from, at Refuge de Venasque in France, Mr Colegate said.

The couple had lived in Durham before deciding to pack up their lives and go travelling after Mr Colegate nearly died from an infection.