Vancouver Police say the disappearance of a British tourist is totally out of character.
Police say 22-year-old Thomas Billings hasn’t been seen or heard from for more than a week.
He was last seen in the 1400-block of East Broadway on the morning of November 25. He was supposed to go to the U.S. at the end of the month, and return to England on December 7.
His father, Martin Billings, says his son was reported missing after he failed to return from hiking trip here in Vancouver.
“The reason was, he was couchsurfing, he had left some gear at their house, and he had gone off hiking for a few days, and hasn’t turned up. They contacted Vancouver Police, who contacted us, and he has been reported missing.”
His father says that his son is a very experienced hiker and has hiked all over the world, including in the Arctic Circle.
Martin says his son had just graduated from university in the U.K. this summer and was traveling around North America before applying to do post-graduate research.
He says the last time he talked to his son was on November 23 from Seattle, before his son was to cross into Canada to spend some time in Vancouver.
“We’ve been talking, e-mailing and Skyping to him, on and off, and he was in Seattle the last few days, which was the last time we spoke to him. He was planning to cross the border into Canada and spend some time in Vancouver.”
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“The last conversation we had was a detailed one about the specifications of a laptop he was thinking of buying. He liked to talk about techie stuff rather than anything else.”
Billings is 22 years old and described as white, 5’7” tall, 160 lbs., with blonde short hair and blue eyes. He was last seen wearing a black jacket and grey military style pants.
“It’s one of those things that you want to get on a plane, and get to Vancouver and do anything – but honestly, what is there that I could do in Vancouver, that I couldn’t do here,” says Martin.
Anyone who has seen him or has more information is asked to call Vancouver Police.
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