New appeal over missing student

Steven Cook was on holiday with friends when he disappeared

Police hope a television appeal over a Cheshire student who went missing in Crete more than two years ago could shed new light on his disappearance.

Steven Cook, 23, of Sandbach, was last seen by his friends on the first night of his holiday in the busy resort of Malia on 31 August 2005.

He left to return to his hotel with one friend, but the pair became separated in a bar and Steven disappeared.

His family spoke to the BBC One Missing Live programme.

When Mr Cook, a student at Liverpool John Moore's University, flew out to Greece it was his first holiday away from his family.

He was reported missing on the afternoon of 1 September 2005 by his friends, who also told his family in Sandbach.

Brother Chris Cook, 33, said: "I just went numb, the legs went. You just feel like the pit of your stomach has just been torn out."

Just let me know he is alive Norman Cook, father

Searches around the island, involving the Cook family and local police, have failed to turn up any information on his whereabouts.

However, Cheshire Police - through building links with their Greek counterparts - have been able to build up a picture of his last-known movements.

Det Supt John Armstrong said he was last seen standing outside a bar looking for directions to his hotel, which was just a few hundred yards away.

A Cheshire Police spokesman said: "Hopefully, the appeal might just spark something in someone's mind that happened back on the island or any sightings they may have had since."

Despite more than two years passing since Mr Cook's disappearance, the family still maintain hope that he will be found.

Norman Cook, his father, said: "Steven is always there, he always will be - he'll never go away.

"There are times when I look at the kids and I see their pain. And no parent should see that pain in their kid's face.

"If you were to say to me, 'what do you want most of all?' My answer would be, 'just let me know he is alive.'"