A FAMILY is desperately trying to trace a man who went missing 24 years ago.

Andrew Sinton, who turned 50 yesterday (June 20), vanished from Brighton in 1990 leaving his partner Sharon and two children.

The family have had no contact apart from a phone call from him in 1991 and a letter from Sharon explaining why their relationship had failed in 1992.

Andrew’s younger sister, Vivienne (pictured with her brother in the earliest photo of him), went in search of professional help in the form of Ariel Bruce after years of searching for her brother.

Mrs Bruce, a social worker who has specialised in tracing people for 30 years, said: “We think the answer lies in the Brighton area.

“For years people have assumed the Preston link to Andrew Sinton has been Preston in Lancashire, but it’s the Preston area of Brighton.

“Unfortunately, because his children are not registered under his name, it’s made tracing him and his partner almost impossible.

“If we had this information I could have his partner’s full name and children’s names in three minutes.

“I think she is the missing link, she will have something for us.

“The family have been trying for years and years to find him and now they have turned to me.”

Andrew was passionate about music, especially jazz funk, when he lived in the Preston Park area of Brighton with his partner Sharon in 1986.

They had two children between 1986 and 1990.

Mrs Bruce added: “He was obviously very unhappy at one time and he asked his sister for a chat, she was busy, and said she would talk to him later.

“That was the last she saw of him, and it’s one of those things you regret for the rest of your life.

“So we’re really desperate for anyone in the Brighton and Hove area to come forward with any information that might help.

“Looking at the photographs of him just makes my heart melt knowing someone has been missing for so long.

“Someone must remember him.”

Do you know Andrew or Sharon? Email gareth.davies@theargus.co.uk or call 01273 544531.