A BBC documentary following police as they attempt to trace a missing veteran will be screened next week.

Charity founder Mark Smith vanished from his home in Great Sankey in November 2017.

Warrington Guardian:

Now, two-and-a-half years later, the BBC’s Reported Missing will provide an in-depth look at Cheshire Police’s efforts to trace him.

The programme had been due to premiere back in December, but it was later postponed.

It will now be screened at 9pm on Wednesday, August 12, as the first episode in a new series.

READ > When Boris Johnson visited Warrington

Mr Smith formed Blue Apple Heroes in 2012, with the charity aiding hundreds of veterans from its base on Buttermarket Street in the town centre before closing in early 2018.

Warrington Guardian:

He was reported missing after an argument with his wife.

At that stage, the post-traumatic stress disorder sufferer had not been seen for almost 24 hours and had left his desk ‘unusually tidy’ – leaving behind his mobile phone and wallet.

With Mr Smith having ‘behaving increasingly erratically for weeks’, a major police search operation followed.

Serious concerns were raised when the former armed serviceman posted on social media that he ‘wanted to end it all’.

He was last seen boarding a train from Warrington Bank Quay to Glasgow, but was thankfully found ‘safe and well’ in Scotland.

The stresses of running the charity had led up to him going missing.

Mr Smith told the Warrington Guardian last year: "For about two years I had been trying to get someone to take over the charity, because it was starting to have a reverse effect on my mental health.

"I went missing and I was seriously considering taking my own life.

"It wasn't a good time – but I'm moving on, it's just good to have our lives back.

"We helped more than 300 veterans in that five years, and we probably saved half a dozen lives.”