The son of a man who has been missing for nearly three years has gained hope from the finding of Louise Tiffney's remains.

Paul Harley has been missing since leaving his home in Bellsmyre, Dumbarton, on September 28, 2014, and now his family are desperate some closure.

His son Paul Jnr, 34, no longer holds out any hope of finding his father alive but will not give up on the search, with the latest due for Renton in West Dunbartonshire this weekend.

The confirmation that remains found last week in East Lothian were those of Louise Tiffney, who had been missing for 15 years, has only solidified his belief the family will finally get some closure.

But Mr Harley said he does not want to sit and wait 15 years for a knock at the door.

He said: "That gives you hope, they are saying it was a cyclist that found her and basically the cyclist had just happened to stop at that particular point.

"If they had stopped 10 metres ahead they wouldn't have seen her so it's down to luck something like that happened.

"It does give us hope but we don't want to have to wait for 15 years, we want it done in 15 minutes."

He added: "At first we thought he had maybe gone down to London or something like that but police searched all his bank accounts and nothing had been touched.

"We gave up hope of him still being alive about a year and a half ago, before he went missing he used to speak to us every day and be in contact with me and my sister so we know he wouldn't have done this to us.

"We all believe he is lying down there somewhere, we are just wanting to find his body. The family will never stop looking until we can lay him to rest properly."

Mr Harley recently got laid off from his job and is using his redundancy money to offer a reward for anyone who helps find his father in the hope it will attract more attention to the case.

He has appealed for people with a better knowledge of the local area to help with the search, which led to him being contacted by Mark Casey, who will coordinate the search locally.

Mr Harley said: "Being from Coatbridge I don't really know the area that well and was hoping someone with more local knowledge would get in touch so we are delighted Mark has offered to help out.

"We are hopeful he might know of some places that are a bit more hidden that most people wouldn't go near.

"We have had over 50 searches now but we know our best chance is probably a dog walker or member of public stumbling across him."

He added: "We just need to start thinking outside the box a bit more.

"The place we are going to search on Sunday is a wooded area near Renton but with a motorway nearby that would possibly put dog walkers and the like off going there."

K9 recovery rescue has been helping with the search for Mr Harley Snr and have been out looking through the local woodlands nearly every weekend.

The family say they will leave no stone unturned in the quest to find him.

A tip-off from a psychic led them to a reservoir in Dumbarton, where they found some evidence suggesting someone had been living rough nearby.

A three-day water hunt by a police search and recovery diving unit found no trace.

There will be 25 people coming from Coatbridge for the search on Sunday and they are hopeful a group of locals will help will swell the numbers to closer to 50.

He said: "After two and a half years we are all just wanting some closure on it now because there is nothing worse than waking up in the morning and just thinking 'same again' every day.

"It has been hard but we really just need to keep going, you've got to get on with your life as well but we are just always waiting for that chap at the door or a phone call."

Anyone who wants to help in the search for Mr Harley Snr on Sunday are encouraged to come along and meet with the rest of the search party for 11am at Renton railway station.