Police believe tracing a lookalike could help their enquiries in finding a missing man who was last seen leaving his Epsom home more than a month ago.

James Middleton, 70, known as ‘Jim’, was last seen at about midday on Sunday, July 2, after going out on his light blue mobility scooter and failing to return home as expected.

From July 3: Helicopters scrambled in police search for missing elderly man James Middleton last seen heading out to Stew Ponds in Epsom

From July 5: Epsom residents join police officers and firefighters in search for missing elderly man Jim Middleton

Despite police helicopters being scrambled, officers and hundreds of volunteers scouring the area, and Jim’s family staging a reconstruction to jog people’s memories the 70-year-old has still not been found.

Since Jim’s disappearance police have received several reported sightings to Jim and are now looking to identify a man seen in Epsom using a similar mobility scooter in order to establish if these sightings may relate to him instead.

Surrey Comet:
The real Jim Middleton

Detective Inspector Paul Gordon said: “The response from the local community continues to be extremely positive and we have received numerous reports from members of the public of potential sightings of James.

“However, we believe some of the reported sightings may in fact relate to another man, who is very similar in appearance to Mr Middleton.

“We are therefore very keen to speak to this gentleman, who is not suspected of any criminality, but may well be able to help enormously with our enquiries and efforts to find James. If you are the person in the CCTV or you recognise him please contact us.”

To offer information, call police on 101 – or 999 in an emergency – and quote the reference number P17165048.