The disappearance of Tom Stewart: I don’t think he’ll come back

Five years since the disappearance of Tom Stewart, his wife Phyllis is making one last appeal for any information about his whereabouts, even as she resigns herself to never seeing him again.

Stewart, then aged 59, escaped from Mount Carmel Hospital, where he was admitted voluntarily, in May 2016.

His last words to Phyllis were: “I cannot be here, it’s not helping me [at Mount Carmel]”. His disappearance featured in the local and British media.

His relatives have not stopped looking for him since. At one point, Phyllis even offered a €1,000 reward to anyone with information, pleading that she needed to know whether Tom, who relied on diabetic medication, was dead or alive.

On Thursday she told Times of Malta that it was out of character for Tom, whom she described as “a gentle giant”, to let his wife and family worry so much over his disappearance.

“It also does not make any sense that no one has seen him on the island over five years. It is a small island and someone would have recognised him if he were still alive.

“All his identity documents and personal belongings are still at home, so I don’t believe he has left the island, either.”

It does not make any sense that no one has seen him over five years

The Stewarts, who got married in 2000, had spent their honeymoon in Malta. They visited the island several times in the following years and had decided to retire here.

Phyllis believes that Tom, who always looked cheerful, was under stress when he went missing. In the weeks leading up to his disappearance, the couple had been carrying out some house alterations and had some problems with the people doing the refurbishment.

Over the past few years, she has tried to get on with her life, reaching out for support to deal with the disappearance, making new friends and volunteering with a local charity.

“I now don’t believe that he is coming back. I think he passed away. However, I won’t have closure until I know what happened.

“This will be my last attempt at jogging people’s memory because every appeal I see being made by his friends and relatives and my past appeals just re-open the wound. Maybe someone, somewhere, knows something.”

Stewart’s disappearance is still an open case for the police.

A police spokesperson said: “Unfortunately, till today, he is still considered missing. The police have always communicated with the missing person’s family, even when the police received reports stating the possibility that Stewart was seen.

“The police would like to give Stewart’s family the closure they deserve,” the spokesperson added.

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