Police hunting a Baildon man missing in Amsterdam hope closed circuit TV cameras will provide vital clues to his disappearance.

Dutch officers were today trying to retrace Ian Walton's movements in the city to see if CCTV footage could unlock the mystery.

The 36-year-old has not been seen since Saturday, December 20, on the first night of a four-day break to Amsterdam with two friends.

He had been drinking in a bar with Ian Shackleton and Paul Holmes, who decided to return to their hotel.

Mr Walton, of Kilnsey Mews, West Lane, Baildon, never arrived back at the hotel and his friends reported him missing the next day. Mr Holmes and another of his friends Roger Dyer spent this weekend in Amsterdam putting up posters to help the search.

"It's too early to say if anything will come of them but we had to do something and are trying to stay positive," said Mr Walton's mother Margaret.

"It is very hard waiting and not knowing anything but we will keep trying to find him. We just don't think Ian would purposefully disappear. He had been getting some bad headaches before he went so we are wondering if that might have had anything to do with it.

"His friends put up 40 posters and while they were over there they found a CCTV camera which we are hoping the police will search through as it looks on to the street where some of the bars are that Ian went to."

Mr Walton's family has also been in touch with the National Missing Persons Helpline which is working with Dutch police to try to find Mr Walton.

An Amsterdam police spokesman today confirmed that the search for him was continuing.

"We will be looking at all the options and trying to re-trace his last-known steps in the city," he said.

"You can count on it that if we need to look at CCTV pictures we will and that the police are working on this."

Mr Walton's former girlfriend Janice Weldon said she was baffled by his disappearance.

"We are just waiting now and hoping that we have some good news soon," she said.

"It's a really difficult time for everyone and we are all so upset about it."

Mrs Walton, who lives with her husband Laurie at North Ferriby in East Yorkshire, also said it was out of character for their son to miss Christmas with his family.

"In 36 Christmases we have only had one without Ian, when he went with his friend Roger to Torremolinos," Mrs Walton said.

"It has been appalling without him but you have to keep going."

She said her daughter Angela's children seven-year-old Jonathan and ten-year-old Bryony were particularly upset.

"They have really missed him. He was only here three weeks ago."

Mr Walton works as a shower installer but is also a qualified joiner, shop fitter and sound engineer.

He and his father are both keen Manchester United supporters.

Mrs Walton said he was asthmatic and she feared he might have fallen ill.

"We just want some information. I keep hanging on to the fact that if he has had a bit of a brainstorm, we might get him back safe and well."