THE family of a Dumbarton dad missing for more than seven years believe he may have been seen by members of the public in Glasgow city centre.

The family of Paul Harley from Bellsmyre have made an emotional appeal to bring "a loving caring dad home" following the sighting outside Glasgow Central railway station.

Originally from Coatbridge, dad-of-three Paul has been missing from his home in Whiteford Avenue, Dumbarton, since Sunday September 28, 2014.

His son, also named Paul Harley, took to social media to look out for his dad after spotting a photo, shared by homeless project volunteers, of a man sitting outside the station.

Dumbarton and Vale of Leven Reporter:

He says he has since been in Glasgow city centre and spoke to two people who claim they recognise the man in the photo.

On Facebook, the son, also from Coatbridge said: "Can you please look out for him, the trainers are quite distinctive, don’t approach him as it may scare him, if you can take a photo of him and send me it with location, let’s bring this loving caring dad home."

The photo of the man resembling Mr Harley senior was shared by volunteer charity Homeless Project Scotland on Twitter, showing him sitting near to the entrance in the snow clutching a paper cup.

It has since come to light that the photo, shared to illustrate an incident where a man was assisted to shelter last week, is not actually from a few days ago, but rather was taken within in the same period of 2018.

A Homeless Project Scotland spokesperson said in a statement: "Homeless Project Scotland recently posted an article regarding a homeless person that we found on the street and helped into emergency accommodation.

"In order to protect the identity of that person we used a stock picture of a homeless man in the winter.

"However it has now come to our attention that this image bears the resemblance of a missing person, Paul Harley, who has been missing for seven years.

"The family of Paul have contacted us as the image has been shared extensively on social media.

"The man’s son, also named Paul Harley, told us that he is grateful that we showed the image of his father, because it has helped them in their search.

"They are keen that it continues to be shared, in the hope that it will help with their search for their father.

"We have joined the search for Missing Paul Harley."

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Officers are appealing to members of the public in Dumbarton and the Vale who may recognise the man in the image or who has any information about him to contact them.

They are also appealing to the man himself to get in touch so that officers can ascertain his identity.

Detective Sergeant Bruce Fyfe said: “Paul’s family is devastated at his disappearance. He is a much loved member of the family and they are hoping for the best outcome in this. We remain in close contact with Mr Harley’s family and this is clearly a very distressing time for them. Any line of inquiry which could assist us in locating Paul will be fully investigated and that’s why we need to find out as much as we can about the man in the photo.”

Paul Harley has been missing since Sunday, 28 September, 2014. He is white, around 5 ft. 8 inches in height with black receding hair and green eyes. He has the name Kyla tattooed on his right arm.

Anyone with information is asked to call Police Scotland via 101, quoting incident number 1558 of 14 February 2021.