“My world’s collapsed, I’m devastated. Nothing will ever be the same, nothing ever. It is like someone putting the knife into you, absolutely twisting it.
"He touched a lot of people. He didn't judge anybody, he didn't see anybody else's disability.
"He would fill you with joy.”
These are the heart-breaking words of Shirley Davies of Ammanford, describing her feelings on hearing the tragic news about the death of her brother, Gary Shepherd-Mason.
In the latest TV documentary in the S4C series, Ar Goll (translation: Missing) on Wednesday, March 27, the cameras follow Dyfed-Powys Police as they searched for the 54-year-old man, originally from Ammanford but living in Carmarthen at the time he went missing.
Gary, who had serious mental health problems, went missing in mid-November 2018.
The police force’s search continued for three months until a body washed up at Instow beach in the North Devon coast was sadly identified as Gary Shepherd-Mason.
The Ar Goll film crew followed the police search as they launched several appeals and poster campaigns, conducted house and woodland searches, and investigated a number of possible sightings locally in Garnant and Capel Dewi and one in North Wales.
The programme also includes interviews with one of Gary Shepherd-Mason’s other sisters, Mandy Walters as the family helped in the search.
Mandy Walters said, “We have to do something, we can't give up hope. I just can't sit there. You never think it would happen to our family here; it's always somebody else.”
Over the last six months, S4C cameras have had exclusive access to Dyfed-Powys Police in their work searching for missing people.
Richard Lewis, Deputy Chief Constable. Dyfed-Powys Police said, “We will never close a missing persons enquiry. If someone is reported missing, then they will be missing until we find them, irrespective of how long that is. Searching can take a long time and can be difficult for all concerned. But we will never turn our backs on any family.”
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