Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Police continue search for missing Aberdeen schoolboy Liam Smith two weeks since last sighting

It is now two weeks since anyone has seen missing Aberdeen teenager Liam Smith.

Yesterday morning, emergency services rushed to the harbour area of the city after a member of the public reported seeing a body floating in the River Dee just after 8.30am.

But fears that it may be the missing teen were quickly dispelled when water search teams could only find floating storm debris including large logs and branches littering the waterway.

Today, police teams are continuing to focus on the Crathes Castle and Estate area as it is believed Liam alighted a bus there a fortnight ago  on Saturday, November 17.

Estate staff with expert knowledge of the terrain have been helping the police in their search of the 530-acre site, which is covered in woodland and open fields.

It is understood that daily searches are taking place of the estate’s numerous buildings – with no sign of Liam being found in any of them so far.

Police dive teams searched the pond near the entrance to the property yesterday but there was no trace of the schoolboy.

Liam’s family have appealed for anyone who may have information on his whereabouts to come forward.

His mother, Alix Smith, has spent countless hours scouring the castle grounds with other family members this week and is “desperate” to find her son.

One estate worker said that they had searched the whole estate and suggested that Liam may have gone elsewhere.

The 16-year-old was caught on CCTV entering Union Square shopping centre at around 1pm on Saturday, November 17.

Shortly afterwards, he bought a bus ticket for Raemoir Road in Banchory and got on the 202 Stagecoach bound for Lumphanan.


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The P&J newsletter


A passenger on the bus has said that Liam got off at Crathes where the bus would have made a stop at around 2pm and another witness stated they had spotted him on the Crathes Estate later that afternoon.

Chief Inspector Martin Mackay said the weather this week had hampered his teams, making their work more “challenging and difficult”.

He added: “Over the past two weeks, we have had assistance from every available resource at Police Scotland’s disposal including the search helicopter, dog unit, dive unit and specialist police search advisers (Polsa).

“As we enter more challenging terrain every day, we are now relying on a ‘boots on the ground’ approach to ensure dense wooded areas are properly checked.

“Many areas have also become flooded due to the wet weather, so we are also deploying dive units to assist.

“Two weeks is a long time for any family to be without their son and we continue to keep in contact with Liam’s family.

“Your comments and words of comfort are much appreciated by everyone involved. I would also like to thank the members of the public who have been leaving food and home-bakes for our officers who are searching out at Crathes – we have been shown incredible kindness by the local community.”

Anyone with information should phone police on 101.