Walkers in Norwich have been urged to help in the search for a man who went missing from the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital yesterday.

James Whitman, 40, was last seen at the hospital at around 4pm on Monday and police believe he may be in "distress".

Police are appealing for anyone walking in Eaton, Bowthorpe, Cringleford and Earlham Park in Norwich to look out for Mr Whitman.

He is described as white, 5ft 10ins tall, with short blonde hair which is thinning on top.

Mr Whitman was last seen wearing a blue polo top with the letter ‘A’ on the chest or a grey polo short, and navy trousers or grey Superdry jogging bottoms.

He was also carrying a red and black rucksack.

A team of officers, volunteers from lowland search and rescue and police dog and drone units are continuing to search for Mr Whitman around Earlham Park, University of East Anglia (UEA), Bowthorpe, Cringleford and Eaton.

However so far there have been no sightings of him.

Officers believe he may have been in Earlham Park late yesterday afternoon and into the evening after leaving the hospital.

Inspector Adam Binns, who is leading the search, said: “James is vulnerable at the moment and as more time passes, we’re becoming increasingly concerned about him.

“I want to appeal to residents in those areas to look out for James or anybody fitting his description who appears to be in distress, and please do call us straight away if you see him or come across something that looks suspicious or doesn’t quite add up.”

Anyone with information should contact Norfolk Police on 101 quoting incident number 341 of Monday, June 13, 2022.