Detectives investigating the ten-year-old disappearance of a Bradford father today said they were "bitterly disappointed" with the lack of public support they had received.
Officers had appealed for information about the whereabouts of Graham Whitton who has not been spotted since walking out of a city bar in December 1992.
As his family said they feared he had been murdered over huge gambling debts, police revealed they were forensically examining a dismembered skeleton found on Oxenhope moorland almost five years ago.
Detectives Inspector Chris Binns, who is leading the investigation, said DNA experts had been called in to establish if the remains belonged to the 38-year-old dad-of-two.
He added: "Since our appeal to the public last Thursday we have not had a single call and that is bitterly disappointing.
"Someone out there will know where Mr Whitton is or what has happened."
He stressed that Buttershaw-born Mr Whitton was well known in many Bradford bars and betting shops and was a regular Bradford City supporter at Valley Parade.
"We need to hear from the landlords of those pubs, old school friends, neighbours or people he spoke to in betting shops," said Det Insp Binns.
"They might have information which might seem trivial and unimportant to them but it could hold the key to this investigation."
He revealed that officers did have a list of people they intended to interview which had been put together with the help of Mr Whitton's friends and relatives.
"We would rather they came and spoke to us before we came looking for them."
Mr Whitton's former wife, Bernadette Baker, said she feared he had been murdered after building up huge gambling debts around the time of his disappearance. On the day he vanished, Mr Whitton had left money and an unused holiday ticket at the house he was staying at in the city's Canterbury estate.
Anyone with information should contact Bradford South CID on (01274) 376459.
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