The son of missing man Steven Clarke, who disappeared a month ago today, has made an impassioned plea for help to find him.

The last confirmed sighting of Steven was Bells Orchard Lane, in Wareham, at around 11.20am on Thursday, January 26.

Speaking to the Echo, Steven’s son Phillip Way explained the last time he had spoken to his dad: “I spoke to him on the 25th, the day after his birthday, and it was kind of like he was oblivious to the fact it had been birthday. He’d ring but you wouldn’t always get a proper conversation out of him and he wouldn’t really tell people he loved them over the phone. On that day, though, we did have a full conversation and when I said bye he told me he loved me and I was quite shocked.

“On Saturday (January 28) I got a phone call asking if I’d seen dad or if he was me visiting mum but that was the first I’d known he hadn’t been seen for a few days. All his birthday cards were left in his flat unopened - there’s about eight or nine just sat there.”

Phillip explained that the family had since received a message from someone who used to ‘live down the road from dad’ saying they had seen the 54-year-old in Dorchester town centre on February 10 -  giving them ‘renewed hope’ that Steven will be found.

He said: “I don’t think it has sunk in, I obviously know he’s missing and it can be easy to have bad thoughts about what’s happened to him but in my head I’m thinking he’s still alive and just nobody has found him yet. That’s what I hope for but the longer he goes without medication the more concerned we are.”

Phillip said Steven, a former farmer, has Huntington's disease - a condition that causes damage to nerve cells in the brain. He also explained that his dad used to regularly get buses down to Swanage but said his bus pass had not been used since being reported missing.

He said the family ‘just want dad home’ and added: “Of course we just want him home. We want him to contact the police, we just want to know he’s okay. If he’s scared at all to not worry about it because we just want to help him, we love him.”

Dorset Police last provided an update on February 8 when Chief Superintendent Richard Bell said: “We have deployed significant resources into searching large parts of Wareham and the surrounding area over recent days, with more than 400 properties visited during house-to-house enquiries and extensive CCTV enquiries conducted. However, at this time we still have not had any further confirmed sightings after Thursday, January 26.

“Unfortunately, Mr Clarke has a number of health conditions that require regular medication that we believe he may not have access to. As it has now been nearly two weeks since he was last seen, we are very concerned for his welfare and fear that he may have come to harm.”