A MAJOR search continued all day in the hills of Wester Ross yesterday for a retired Scottish civil servant who has been missing for five days.
Widower David Williamson, 78, a former Keeper of the Registers of Scotland, was last seen at breakfast time on Saturday at a country house hotel on the shores of a sea loch eight miles from Kyle of Lochalsh. However, rescue services were not told about the missing hillwalker, from Mount Grange, Edinburgh, until Tuesday evening.
Yesterday's search involved the coastguard helicopter from Stornoway, two mountain rescue teams, and sniffer dogs. It was called off at dusk and resumed at first light today.
Mr Williamson had been staying at the Conchra House Hotel and told staff he planned to walk to the Falls of Glomach, in Kintail, Wester Ross.
The distinguished war veteran, who was a captain in the Royal Artillery, has family connections in Wester Ross and is a frequent visitor to the area.
He is honorary president of the Scottish Schools Club and received the Keystone Gold Award for services to boys' clubs in 1985.
The Edinburgh University graduate was made an honorary member of the Law Society of Scotland when he retired from Edinburgh's Meadowbank House, where he was the senior civil servant in caring for the tens of millions of land documents which make up a key part of Scotland's national archive.
When he was made a Commander of the British Empire by the Queen, his citation was jointly for his services as a senior civil servant and for his work with boys' clubs, a subject on which he wrote and edited two books.
His wife, Agnes, died three years ago.
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