POLICE have revealed missing Kidderminster store manager Matthew Gill’s phone was switched on for several hours last Thursday.

Mr Gill, aged 43, a department manager at B&Q in Kidderminster, has been missing for two-and-a-half weeks.

His phone has reportedly been switched off since his disappearance on Friday October 6 but police say the phone - a Samsung Galaxy S5 mini - was switched on last Thursday (October 19) during the early evening.

It was switched on somewhere in the Stourton area, near Stourbridge, and was left on for several hours. No calls were made or received.

But West Midlands Police are now urgently appealing to anyone who has any information about the phone, which has a distinctive Rocky Balboa cover, to get in touch with them as soon as possible.

Detective Sergeant Andy Padmore, from the force’s Locate team, said: "Matthew has been missing nearly three weeks and we are really concerned as there has still been no contact with his family and friends and this is completely out of character for him.

"I need to speak to anyone with any information about his phone."

He said whoever may have switched the phone on “is not in any trouble” - officers just need to understand how they came to be in possession of it.

Mr Gill was last seen at around 9am on Friday October 6 when his partner Annette Woodhouse left for work. He was due to start work at midday but never arrived and there have been no confirmed sightings of him since that day.

Significant searches have since been carried in woodland, canals and rivers in the Stourton area but no trace of Mr Gill has been found to date.

He is described as white, five feet ten inches tall, of medium build and he had short cropped hair at the time of his disappearance.

It is thought he was wearing a blue Superdry T-shirt.

Anyone with information about Mr Gill’s phone or his whereabouts are urged to contact the Locate team immediately on 01902 649150 or the charity Missing People on 116 000.