Family fly to search for lost brother

David Sleigh and Catherine Booth at Auckland airport last night. Photo / Sarah Ivey

The brother and sister of a New Zealand man missing in London flew to Britain last night vowing to do whatever they could to help in the search for him.

The family fears the worst for Johnny Sleigh, 36, who has not been seen for a week, and his brother David said that although it was hard to leave family in Waimate at this time, it felt better to be doing something.

At Auckland airport last night, Mr Sleigh said the help from his brother's London friends was encouraging for the family in New Zealand.

"The Facebook page, the emails circling around, it's really encouraging and it does help."

Mr Sleigh said the past few days had been hard, but seeing how productive the search was in London had helped.

"When we left Christchurch, we felt really sad - saying goodbyes and everything. But now we're getting ready to go, it helps us get focused about the task ahead."

Johnny Sleigh was last seen leaving a bar in the Holborn area of central London a week ago.

His sister, Catherine Booth, said from her home in Waimate they had been told he did not appear drunk.

He lived at Clapham Common, South London, about 10km from the club, and would probably have been walking to Oxford Circus to catch a bus home.

His close friends in London had taken time off work and were "going hard" to try and find him, David Sleigh said.

"We are trying to keep positive. We need as much help as we can get. People here should keep mentioning it to friends and family in the UK.

"We will catch up with his friends andgo from there. We are limited in theamount of time we can stay there, but what is the price of a brother?"

Ms Booth said she did not want to think about what could have happened.

"I don't really want to talk about that."

Johnny Sleigh, an engineering draughtsman, had been living in London for about six years and Ms Booth said he was very "straight-up" and not involved in the drug or criminal underworld.

Police had been throwing a lot of resources into finding him and Ms Booth said the last sighting of him was on security camera, leaving the club at 1.20am last Saturday.

Ms Booth said her brother did not have any history of going walkabout and his disappearance was "completely out ofcharacter".

The police said his bank account had not been touched since he disappeared.