THE distraught fiancee of a missing firefighter has claimed he had “every intention” of coming home.
Lucy Otto, 33, joined search teams in Lewes after Anthony Knott, 33, vanished from The Lamb pub on Fisher Street in Lewes on Friday, December 20.
Cops said he “may have come to harm” and extended their search to include the area around an outdoor swimming pool.
Bride-to-be Lucy Otto, 33, said: “He had every intention of coming home.
“If you’re worried and you’re thinking, ‘Oh I can’t come home, this is too big now’, honestly, you don’t realise how many people want you back regardless of the situation you left in – if that is the case.
“To be gone for this long, I just don’t get it, I just do not understand it.
“I’ve been asked if there was any indication of depression or worries or troubles but I’ve racked my brains; there is nothing he said to me that would make me think he was in that frame of mind.
“I don’t think that’s an option that he’s gone off and he’s hurt himself.”
Last week she urged police to do more to solve Anthony’s mystery disappearance.
You don’t realise how many people want you back
Lucy Otto
Lucy told The Sun: “The police are focusing on the water aspect and that he has fallen into the water, but I think there’s more to it.
“In my heart of hearts I think he has been taken or something. It just doesn’t make sense. I just want the police to start looking at different angles.
“The days are getting on now, they need to pull their finger out and start from the beginning.
“Where did he go after he left the pub? Something isn’t right, you can’t just walk out of a pub and never be seen again.
“I appreciate them searching the water, I really do. But it has been five days and they’ve come up with nothing.”
The firefighter had been pub-hopping with around a dozen colleagues and lost touch with them at around 7.20pm on December 20.
There has been no activity on Anthony’s phone since 7.20pm on December 20 and it has been off since 1am on Saturday, while his bank card has not been used.
On the day of the disappearance Lucy had dropped him off at another pub at 12.30pm where his last words to her were “love you, bye”.
Lucy said: “And then I drove off and that was it.”
She added: “It was his Christmas drinks, but it was never going to be a big night out.
“He said it was going to be a quiet old man pub crawl, he said we’re not going to get too drunk.
“He had planned to get a cab with one of his friends or get a train to Croydon.
“Anthony’s not a big drinker, even when he did have a drink he wasn’t a paralytic drunk, you could still have a conversation with him.
“Anthony is capable of looking after himself.
“He is trained in survival, he is not going to walk into a flooded area he is going to turn around and go a different way.”
Detective Chief Inspector Alasdair Henry said yesterday: “It has now been a number of days since Anthony was reported missing and we are growing increasingly concerned for his welfare.
“Our specialist teams have carried out extensive searches with support from volunteers and other emergency services.”
Anthony, of Orpington, Kent, is white, approximately 6ft and of medium build with medium-brown short gelled hair.
He was last seen wearing a black long-sleeve top, a dark denim suit-style jacket, dark denim jeans and black shoes.
His disappearance of is described as “very out of character” as friends say they are “really worried.”
