IT WAS possibly the biggest manhunt that Petersfield has witnessed for a generation.

A police helicopter hovered in the skies for hours while officers searched the town in cars, on bikes and on foot.

But the disappearance of Colin Dyer from Downs House also highlighted how social media can be a force for good, and how caring and community-minded the people of Petersfield can be.

While hundreds of people shared the missing persons appeal online, dozens more joined an impromptu search operation, taking it on themselves to scour fields, footpaths, ditches and woods around the town in a bid to find the missing 78-year-old.

As night fell, Terry Lance decided to support the effort by turning his Bourne estate agents office in Swan Street into a meeting point for volunteers taking part in the search.

Around 80 people turned up after he shared the news on Facebook while dozens more donned their hi-vis jackets to scour the Heath.

“When it got to about 5pm and he still hadn’t been found, I put up a note on Facebook about the search party and it just went from there,” said the sales negotiator from Sussex Road.

“I kept the office open for people and between 60 to 80 people turned up. There was Hampshire Search and Rescue taking part and so many people wanted to help out.”

Mr Lance added: “It was an elderly gentleman and I’ve got a grandad – it felt like the right thing to do.”

The Heath and Herne Farm area of Petersfield was among the most closely searched as Colin and his wife used to walk around the beauty spot before the 78-year-old moved to Downs House.

Much of the search was carried out by police officers but a specialist team from Hampshire Search and Rescue was called around lunchtime to join the operation.

While the police received one report of Mr Dyer being spotted around College Street, his daughter, Hazel Austin, said she would be very surprised if her dad made it to the town centre area.

Mr Dyer was found off Harrow Lane but beyond plain sight beside a bramble patch thanks to thermal imaging device on a police helicopter, with only a refuelling preventing its day-long presence above the town.

A policewoman was the first to make contact while Mr Dyer was also the first person to be carried with a specialised Alpine stretcher that Hampshire Search and Rescue bought with Tesco donations.

He complained of neck pains after being found and was taken to Queen Alexandra Hospital by ambulance where he was given a CT scan and X-ray.

He only suffered cuts and scratches but is now due to return home after spending the last week recovering in hospital.