Drone: Abergele man, 82, found by police craft after going missing

Mr Giblin was found in high grass that officers on foot and helicopters were unable to see

The family of a grandfather whose life was saved by a police drone said that he "didn't stand a chance" without it.

Roy Giblin, 82, was located by drone pilots 18 hours after going missing.

Rescue teams had been searching land, air and sea for Mr Giblin, from Abergele in Conwy, when he was found in overgrown 4ft high grass near the town's railway station on 8 June.

Lead pilot Sgt Paul Terry of North Wales Police said it was "very likely" the drone saved Mr Giblin's life.

Mr Giblin's granddaughter said she had been preparing for the worst.

"As soon as I heard the news that he'd been found, I just burst into tears," said Lauren Delaney, 30.

"It's overwhelming. If they'd not had the drone, he would probably have still been there now, we wouldn't have had a clue where he was, and he wouldn't even be here.

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"After all that time, as the hours were going on, I had the worst in my head and as much as I was trying to stay positive, I also had to accept that he was out alone in the night and it might not have been a nice outcome.

"There are no words for the gratitude we have for everyone that was involved. They literally pulled out every stop to find him."

Search and rescue teams and the RNLI searched the waters off North Wales for Mr Giblin, with the National Police Air Service (NPAS), police officers and the drone unit involved in the search.

North Wales Police launched the drone unit back in April and has been deployed more than 250 times.

Sgt Paul Terry said that without the drone it was "very likely" Mr Giblin would not have been found

The aircraft was able to oversee where foot patrol officers were while they were searching to locate Mr Giblin.

"I'd say this was the most significant find we've had in the two months since launching," said Mr Terry.

"What's critical about that story is that we were working with local officers who were doing a huge amount of foundational work looking for CCTV sightings in the last location that we'd seen him and manually on the ground searching with teams looking across the area.

"As we searched along the train line, we had a sighting of him in some very long grass around 4ft high, away from the area where the ground team were searching.

"But because we had aerial cover, it could capture an area wider than what they were searching for visually.

"If the drone hadn't of been there, Mr Giblin wouldn't have been seen. It's very likely he wouldn't have been located that night and his life was saved because of that tactic."