Missing Briton's family heartache

Mrs Hoyland and her family are now funding the search in Bali

The wife of a sea scooter rider who vanished off the coast of Bali has spoken of the family's heartache as they face Christmas without him.

Jeremy Hoyland, 41, of Penistone, South Yorkshire, has not been seen since he made a phone call on 24 October saying he was in trouble in the water.

The father-of-two was acting as a race director at an event during the Asian Beach Games 2008 when he disappeared.

His wife Jacqui said the family had not given up hope of finding him alive.

She said: "It's hard to put into words what the last two months have been like.

"At no point did we ever think for a second that we wouldn't find him.

Everyone asks how do you cope? We cope because we are focusing on what we need to do to find him. We're not going to give up on him Jacqui Hoyland

"I'm not looking forward to Christmas. It will come and go, it won't be like any other Christmas that we've ever had but we'll just have to get through it by being a family.

"I haven't bought any presents for Jeremy. Every time I go into the shops where I would normally look for things for him it's too difficult for me."

Mr Hoyland, who is the father of Ellena, 13, and Georgia, 11, has more than 10 years' experience as a sea scooter rider and is also an administrator of the sport.

On the day he went missing, he had set off with four friends for the Nusa Lembongan islet in the Indian Ocean.

'Still alive'

He made a mobile phone call from out at sea to say he would drop behind to help one of the party but the rest of the group returned safely without him.

He also sent a text message in which he said he was two miles from the coast and in difficulty, but there has been no trace of him since.

Mrs Hoyland believes he could still be alive on one of the hundreds of uninhabited islands in the region around Bali.

She is now working with Foreign Office officials to put pressure on the Indonesian authorities to release mobile phone data to help locate Mr Hoyland's position in the water.

The couple's daughter Georgia said: "We've got him a Christmas card and things to remember him.

"We always buy him a card every year so we don't see why it should change whether he's here or not."

Mrs Hoyland added: "Everyone asks how do you cope? We cope because we are focusing on what we need to do to find him. We're not going to give up on him."