THE family of a man who has been missing for six weeks have issued an emotional plea for him to get in contact and put them out of their misery.

Robert Christopher Hornsby's disappearance was described by his brother as 'completely out of character' and has left his family fearing the worst.

Andrew Hornsby described his 50-year-old brother as a 'normal, quiet guy' who has never done anything wrong.

Holding back tears, Mr Hornsby, said: "This is tearing us apart.

"People say that the worst part is not knowing and I can now tell you that that is absolutely the case."

Robert Hornsby, known to his family and friends as Chris, was last seen by his neighbours in Clough Street, Waterfoot, in the middle of January.

He had last seen his brother on Christmas Day.

Mr Hornsby, of Shap Close, Baxenden said: "Chris is a very quiet lad.

"He keeps himself to himself.

"When he wants to be involved he joins in and when he wants time on his own he spends time on his own.

"Having said that he's never do anything wrong. He's just a normal quiet guy.

"We have absolutely no idea what has happened to him.

"I couldn't begin to think what might have happened because it's out of character for him to disappear for any length of time, let alone be gone for six weeks.

"We are at a complete loss.

"I don't think you can avoid considering the worst case scenario.

"You have to consider it because it might be the case."

Chris, who has never married and has no children, is not thought to have used any of his bank accounts since he was last seen.

Mr Hornsby, who also spoke on behalf of his Aunt Nellie Cox, said: "We're not a close family in the sense we are in each other's pockets all the time but we are close in that we have regular get togethers and all the family make the effort to attend.

"We have one get together every year where cousins come from all over the country and we hire a big country house and we all have a week together.

"We consider ourselves a close family who stick together.

"He's had absolutely no arguments with anybody that we know about.

"He's had no arguments with any member of the family. That's why we just think it is a complete mystery.

"Things happen in life that everybody has to deal with but you don't every anticipate having to deal with anything like this.

"It's just completely alien to us.

"We're handling it the best we can.

"The only thing I would say to Chris is if you're okay just let us know. Get in touch.

"If there is something going or or gone on that we don't know about just come back and we can sort it out."

Chris is described as white, around 6ft 4ins tall, of large build with a ginger coloured beard and receding hair. He also wears glasses.

Detectives investigating Chris's disappearance urged anyone with information to get in touch.

DI Paul Barlow said: “We are very concerned for Mr Hornsby’s welfare given the length of time he has been missing and because there have been no recent confirmed sightings of him.

"Anyone with information should call police on 101, quoting incident reference LC-20170214-1243."