THE SEARCH for missing musician DJ Derek will return to Thornbury next week, following a fresh lead.

Family members of 74-year-old Derek Serpell-Morris have recently learned of his apparent love for country walking and believe it could hold clues to his disappearance.

This lead has led them back to Thornbury, which was previously searched when the bus pass belonging to the Bristol pensioner was used to get on a bus heading for the town.

Search groups are being put together to search the area next Thursday. A starting place and time has yet to be confirmed.

Mr Serpell-Morris was last seen leaving a pub in Bristol in July, with reports suggesting he had been chased out.

“A friend of Derek’s said that on the way back from festivals, he sometimes would get off early and walk the rest of the way home,” said Derek’s niece Jennifer Griffiths, who has been leading the campaign to find Mr Serpell-Morris.

“This is something we never knew about him and something the police might have overlooked.

“Following this new information, we have been in contact with the local rambling associations, asking if they can send us routes in the area that people might use.

“He had a map of Thornbury with lots of bits coloured in, it’s just hard to work out what is a walking route and what is a bus route.

“There are so many places nearby he could have walked to, so where could you possibly start?

“The last thing that we know is that he was on a bus headed for Thornbury and so our search is going to start there.

“We might check places on the route to Thornbury and work our way across, we have covered a lot of Thornbury already in previous searches.

There had previously been worries over Mr Serpell-Morris’ mental and physical health, which have caused concerns among the pensioner’s relatives, who are campaigning to continue the search.

Ms Griffiths said: “He had complained of head pains the night before he disappeared, so we are worried he could have collapsed while out for a walk and not been able to get help.

She added: “Police have said they are going to speak to their search teams, they should be out there with us looking for Derek.

“I wouldn’t want to be the person to come across Derek, I don’t think I could live with that image.

“But we are his family and it is something that has to be done, I am desperate to find him and I won’t give up.

“People are welcome to help us if they want to join our search group, we will be putting out information on the search in the next few days.”

A spokesman for Avon and Somerset Police confirmed that the family had been in touch with the lead, and said that they are looking into every lead in the case that they are sent.