A POLICE helicopter flew over Middlewich last Wednesday after an elderly man went missing from a care home in the town.

Officers used a spotlight to scour the area from above while dog patrols searched the streets and fields.

A spokesman for Cheshire Police also told the Guardian that a large group of residents armed themselves with torches to help find the 80-year-old.

She said: “Literally the world and his dog were out looking for him.”

The man was reported missing at 8.10pm and, after a search which lasted more than two hours, he was found more than half a mile away in Sutton Lane at 10.20pm.

“Luckily he was returned safe and well,” added the police spokesman.

Alan Langley, of Lindisfarne Close, said that the helicopter hovered over his home.

He said: “There was a loud sound and I thought it was a plane flying over, then there was a noise like a machine.

“I went out and a helicopter was over my house. We were surprised it was there and it scared my dogs.”

"The helicopter was there for quite a while," added Andrew McCreaddie, who lives near Chadwick Road.

"I didn't hear any sirens, but the noise of the helicopter made me look out of the window.

"We wondered what was happening because we've never seen one hovering over the town like that.

"You could see the spotlight focusing on one point for quite a few minutes and then it moved off behind some trees."

A spokesman for The Manor Care Home, in Greendale Drive, which has a special unit for helping people with dementia, said that no one had gone missing on October 28.

She told the Guardian she did not wish to comment further.