The worried partner of missing walker Stephen Calvert has begged him to get in touch to let her know he is still alive.

The 58-year-old dad-of-one left his smart, terraced home on Friday morning to go for a walk and has not been seen since.

His disappearance triggered a massive hunt over the weekend involving a police helicopter, mounted officers, a search and rescue team, door-to-door inquiries and leafletting shops, cafes and pubs around his home.

Tina Straker said her partner of 16 years had "vanished off the face of this earth" leaving her and their three-year-old son Jack "worried sick and confused."

Twenty-four hours after his disappearance, police launched an extensive search with the Airedale and Wharfe Search and Rescue team to scour the Gallow Lane area near Mr Calvert's home in Elm Terrace, Otley.

The search team also worked its way along the plantation next to the riverside while a police helicopter hovered above sweeping a number of the town's beauty spot areas.

Yesterday the search and rescue team shifted its efforts to the Chevin and officers called at farms nearby to alert them of Mr Calvert's disappearance.

Other officers leafletted shops, cafes and pubs in the town centre and more officers on horseback checked around Fewston Reservoir.

Miss Straker, 42, and her sister Jill Longhorn who travelled from Hull to comfort her, joined in the search.

He was a keen walker but the day he went missing he was not dressed for a hike, said Miss Straker. He was wearing his town clothes a green waxed jacket, jeans, a dark blue knitted jumper and sandy-coloured boots.

He had been suffering from stress for two years partly caused when his business as a claims inspector collapsed.

And she feared a stroke that she had suffered in January might also have added to his anxieties.

She said: "We'd had a rough year already and he had been even more restless and unsettled since my stroke. He has been up and down since then, like a rollercoaster, but he refused to get help. I nagged him and nagged him but he said it was just stress and he'd be okay."

Miss Straker, a health worker, said Mr Calvert told her he was going for a walk down Gallow Hill by the river but then changed his mind and said he was heading for town, just before he left on Friday.

"I said see you later', he said okay' and Jack shouted bye, bye Daddy' and he was gone.

"Stephen was always going out for walks, sometimes for three or four hours so I wasn't worried at first."

She has tried ringing and texting him on his mobile phone but police have since told her it was switched off at 11am on the Friday.

"I hope he has just gone awol, had a breakdown and gone for a breather.

"Lots of people have told me they saw him earlier in the week and neighbours saw him first thing on Friday acting restless in the garden."

She added: "If Stephen reads this, please get in touch, even if it's just to let us know you are safe. We need to know you are okay. This is the most awful waiting game of my life."

Mr Calvert is described as being white, 5ft 9ins with collar length, receding grey hair. He has brown eyes and wears glasses.

Anyone with information, should contact Weetwood police on (0113) 2413459