TWO of Terry McSpadden s closest friends remain certain he is still alive, despite nobody hearing from him for more than a year. Danny and Leanne Crawford – for whom Terry was due to be best man at their wedding in June last year – have travelled across m

TWO of Terry McSpadden's closest friends remain certain he is still alive, despite nobody hearing from him for more than a year.

Danny and Leanne Crawford - for whom Terry was due to be best man at their wedding in June last year - have travelled across much of the country looking for him.

"I really don't believe he is dead, I feel he is out there somewhere," said Mr Crawford.

"I know I could be wrong, but I remember one of the last few times we had a drink he kept saying about how he is a burden on everyone and could not stay around here.

"So many people have said to me they had the same conversation with Terry before he went missing."

"It's hard to get on with your own life knowing Terry's not here. I don't care if he's made a fresh start, I just want to know he is alright."

Mr Crawford, previously of Friday Bridge but now of Leverington, said he briefly spoke to Terry on the morning he went missing.

"There was no inkling then that anything was wrong," he said. "He was busy at work and couldn't speak at the time, but said he would call at the weekend. That was the last I heard of him.

"I didn't have any reason to think anything was wrong until the Sunday after he went missing because Becky (Burton, Terry's ex-girlfriend and mother of his two children) called Leanne to say nobody had seen him.

"I find it hard to believe he has just left us in the lurch."

Mrs Crawford said: "He had nowhere to call his own and spent the last few years sleeping on settees. Because of that, felt he was a burden to people.

"He could not stay away from the children, but I think he's thought he could not watch someone else bringing them up and made a fresh start away from everyone.

"He had lots of issues he struggled with and always talked about what happened in the past. I kept saying think of the future and he hopefully said the future starts here.