AN APPEAL to trace a Wrexham man remains active almost eight years after he disappeared, a charity has confirmed.

David Clwyd Davies, 69 and of the Trefynant Park area of Acrefair, was last seen on April 3, 2013.

North Wales Police was alerted by a concerned neighbour after the one-time award-winning horse breeder failed to turn up for an appointment that day.

It was described by police as "out of character" and officers conducted searches and house-to-house enquiries.

The charity Missing People has confirmed its appeal for information about Mr Davies remains active.

Jemima Compton, Missing People’s publicity officer, said: “David, if you are reading this, please call or text us on our free phone number, 116 000 in confidence.

"We can provide you with support and help you to be safe.

"If anyone has seen David, they should contact Missing People anonymously by calling 116 000 or by emailing 116000@missingpeople.org.uk or call the police on 101.”

The charity’s helpline is operated by staff and volunteers.

It is free to contact and open 24 hours a day thanks to support from players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

Sightings and information about any missing person can also be given anonymously through the Missing People website at www.missingpeople.org.uk/sightings

Mr Davies, known as Clwyd, disappeared in the days after he received a ban from keeping horses by Wrexham magistrates in April 2013.

The horse breeder had pleaded guilty to six charges of causing unnecessary suffering under the Animal Welfare Act.

Twenty-one horses owned by Mr Davies on 120 acres of land were relocated by the RSPCA.

A few months before, Mr Davies had been the subject of Channel 4 documentary The Horse Hoarder.

His subsequent disappearance was the subject of a follow-up documentary on Welsh language TV channel S4C.

At the time he went missing, Mr Davies was described as 5’ 11” tall, of heavy build with a thick beard.

He usually wore jeans, a fleece top and woolly hat and was well known in the local community.

When North Wales Police renewed its appeal for information two years after his disappearance, Mr Davies' friend Michelle Crowther said: "Clwyd was a very distinctive looking man and I’d have thought if he’d just moved away from the area, someone would have recognised him.

"1.7 million people watched the Channel 4 documentary so he was fairly well-known.

“On the day before he went missing, he was seen by two people in Cefn Mawr and yet no-one knows where he was going – he did not go to the bank or Tesco, and would have been very distinctive on his blue Ford tractor.”

When North Wales Police renewed the appeal in 2018, Missing People was to circulate a poster in The Big Issue magazine in an attempt to trace Mr Davies.

At that time Sgt Gareth Roberts said while the force occasionally had reports of sightings around the country, these came to nothing.

To see Mr Davies' appeal page on the Missing People website, visit: https://www.missingpeople.org.uk/help-us-find/david-clwyd-davies-18-001939