More details of the movements of a Sutherland man who disappeared after a show dance more than a month ago have emerged.
Lachlan Simpson, from the village of Embo, was last seen outside the marquee tent in Dornoch at about 1.30am on Sunday, July 26.
Now CCTV footage in the hours beforehand shows the young chef arriving at the back of the Eagle Hotel, in Dornoch, on his bicycle and entering the premises with his rucksack.
A few hours later he is picked up by the cameras leaving without the pack.
A massive search has failed to find any trace of the 22-year-old chef or the rucksack.
The bag is believed to contain a second mobile phone used by Mr Simpson – a Vodafone Smart 4 Mini – which is also still missing.
A supermarket “bag for life” containing the young chef’s work clothes from earlier that day was found inside the Eagle Hotel.
Mr Simpson got a lift from the Eagle to the Dornoch Inn that night and footage there also shows him without the rucksack.
No sightings have been made of him with this rucksack while he was at the marquee dance.
The details of Mr Simpson’s movements were published on an independently administered page on a social networking site on Tuesday night.
A police spokesman said: “We can confirm that the details provided in this Facebook post are factual and that the CCTV footage of his movements is correct.”
When asked about whether the CCTV footage was being studied to ascertain if someone else had left the Eagle with the rucksack, the spokesman stressed that this remained part of police inquiries.
It emerged three weeks ago that Mr Simpson laughed during a phone call to friends about being “up to his knees in water in a burn” shortly after he was last seen on the night he vanished.
Mr Simpson told two pals that he had fallen into a burn and would meet them at his home in Inverview Terrace, in Embo, three miles away.
When he failed to show up, the pair went to a nearby house party in the village, thinking it was likely he had met up with other friends.
Mr Simpson, who cooked at the One-up restaurant at the Dornoch Inn, was last seen outside the Sutherland Show marquee tent heading towards Tain, despite having said he was planning on going home to Embo, which is in the opposite direction.