DETECTIVES have revealed that they are chasing potential new leads in the case of a sports fan who went missing in Greece a year ago today.

Melvyn Gamblin, of Darlington, travelled to Athens for the Olympic Games last year and, despite an inquiry by the British and Greek authorities, he has not been seen by his family since.

The 38-year-old was due to fly home on September 3, last year, but after checking out of his hotel, he did not make his scheduled flight.

Senior officers from Durham Police travelled to Greece with Mr Gamblin's brother, Bryan, to look into reported sightings.

Last night, Detective Sergeant Dave Wilkes, who worked on the inquiry, said the anniversary had prompted a fresh spate of sightings.

"People have been phoning in with unconfirmed sightings of him across the North-East in the past week," he said.

"We have to investigate all of these scenarios, but all our lines of inquiry in the UK and Greece have been conducted. There is really nothing to suggest he has come away from Greece."

Bryan Gamblin has insisted that he believes his brother is still alive and may have suffered a recurrence of his problems with the debilitating condition ME.

Police and Mr Gamblin's family had hoped the Middlesbrough FC fan would appear to watch his team play a Uefa Cup tie against Greek side Egaleo last season.

There was a large police presence at the stadium, with leaflets given to fans, but Mr Gamblin did not appear.