Abusinessman who went missing in the Highlands has been found dead – two months after his dog inadvertently raised the alarm that he was missing.
Jason Gates travelled north on holiday, and had been staying in Aviemore with his beloved pet spaniel Max.
But the 36-year-old vanished while out walking, sparking a major air, land, loch and river search in and around the Drumnadrochit area.
His body was found in undergrowth early yesterday. It is thought he died of hypothermia.
Mr Gates was found by a police dog team close to where his coat was found during the extensive search that began on March 17 – the day Max was caught by police after killing a number of sheep while running loose.
Officers put out an appeal to track down the dog’s owner and using the data contained in his microchip, linked him to Mr Gates.
The Portsmouth accountant’s Audi Quattro estate was then found abandoned in a car park beside the Drumnadrochit tourist office, and emergency services began hunting for him.
Last night, Mr Gates’s heartbroken father Malcolm thanked the rescue teams for their efforts to find his son.
The 67-year-old said: “We’re coping as best we can. We feel we’ve got closure, whereas before we were frightened that we would never see him again or know where he was.
“It wasn’t far from where they found his jacket. It looks like hypothermia but we’ve obviously got to wait for the coroner’s report which will be Thursday or Friday.”
Mr Gates said the family was still coming to terms with the tragedy and were yet to decide whether they would travel to the Highlands.
“It’s still a bit raw, really,” he said.
A spokeswoman for the police said: “As part of the ongoing search effort for Jason Gates, officers discovered a man’s body in the Drumnadrochit area.”
A string of volunteers offered their services when word spread around the Drumnadrochit area that a search was underway for the holiday-maker.
The RNLI carried out exhaustive searches of Loch Ness and its shoreline while police, specialist dog handlers and a rescue helicopter combed a wide area popular with visitors and locals alike.
The nearby Enrick and Coiltie rivers were scoured in vain. The search also stretched five miles westwards from Drumnadrochit, inland to woodland beside Loch Meiklie where a dog walker reported seeing a lone man who may have matched his description.
A Lochaber locksmith had helped police access his car in the hope of finding clues as to his whereabouts.
A pair of trainers were found, so it was thought he may have been wearing walking boots.
At least one sighting of a walker in the area, possibly matching his description, on the first day of the search did not help trace him.
Mr Gates worked as an accountant with his family’s recruitment firm in Portsmouth.
The only apparently certain sign of him since he was reported missing was an appearance in CCTV footage in Inverness on March 14. He was seen wearing a yellow outdoor jacket.
An RNLI crewmember thought he had recognised Mr Gates’ face when a photograph was issued by police. He told colleagues he thought he had seen him the day before outside a local bar.
Mr Gates’s father spoke in March of his son becoming “nocturnal” and that working at night had affected his sleep pattern.
His mother Lesley, sister Alison and brother Simon also issued appeals for anyone seeing him to make contact, and the family used the media to appeal to him directly.
Their concern intensified when it was learned that his bank account had not been accessed for some weeks and that police had discovered his laptop and paperwork in his hotel room.
