THE worried family of a UK man missing in Turkey say they have received a demand for hundreds of pounds in return for information about his whereabouts.

Gary Burns, 39, who has lived in the country for eight years, was last seen in August in the resort of Icmeler and relatives are becoming increasingly concerned for him.

Missing Gary Burns

His family reported him missing after he failed to make contact over Christmas, while friends who were due to visit Gary said they were unable to find him.

The Burns family later received a message in response to social media appeals – purporting to be from a friend of Gary’s – asking them to pay £400 to find out more about his disappearance.

Another chilling message said: “Gary’s dead, he’s in the sea”.

Gary’s brother Terry, 36, from Beechwood, said they initially thought Gary had left the resort for the winter to find work elsewhere, which was something he did most years.

He said: “About eight years ago he went to Turkey with a friend on holiday and met a Turkish girl. He came home and said he was going to live there. He split up with his partner after two or three years but he loved life out there and decided to stay.

“We used to hear from him all the time, either through messages or he’d post pictures on Facebook and we’d comment on them, that sort of thing.

“I got a message from one of his friends saying they were going out to Turkey but couldn’t find him. He’d obviously been in contact with them to say can’t wait to see you, then when they got there he was gone.

“In the winter he used to go into Turkey to look for work. We thought he might have done that but he would always text me over Christmas and New Year to say what he was doing and we got nothing.

“That’s when we started panicking.”

Staff at the bar where Gary was working told his sister Danielle, 23, who works for a travel company in Turkey, that he had failed to turn up for work.

The family has made several social media appeals – resulting in the worrying messages and demand for cash.

Terry said: “A few weeks ago I got a message saying ‘Gary’s dead, he’s in the sea’, then a second one saying it needed to be looked at and something was very wrong.

“A man who got in touch said he would give more information about Gary if we gave him £400. He was claiming to be Gary’s friend and saying that he’d looked after him. We were already worried and after that we started thinking the worst.

“We just want to find out what’s happened to him.”

• (Liverpool News)