The family of a father who went missing almost 10 years ago is hoping an inquest into his death will answer their questions before the end of the year.

The inquest into the death of Terry McSpadden, of Elm near Wisbech, was opened in June at King’s Lynn Coroner’s Court.

During the opening, senior coroner Jaqueline Lake told the court she applied to the chief coroner for the ability to open an investigation on the basis that there was no evidence of life after March 2, 2007.

After the pre-inquest hearing today, Mr McSpadden’s family put out another appeal urging anyone with information regarding the father-of-two’s disappearance, to come forward.

A date is yet to be set for the full inquest but Mrs Lake told the hearing it should take two days and the aim was to hold it before the end of December this year.

A list of potential witnesses to be heard at the inquest as well as a list of interested persons, who will have the right to ask questions during the proceedings, was read out in court.

It is expected CCTV images showing Mr McSpadden’s movements at a Tesco store in Wisbech and a till receipt showing his mobile phone top-up will be referred to during the inquest.

Mr McSpadden’s mother Helen Thrower said after the hearing: “We have got to have some closure, not only for us but Terry has two young children and they want to know what happened to their dad.

“Please someone come forward, we need to know what happened to Terry. It’s like living in a nightmare, it’s the same thing day in, day out. It’s the first thing in the morning and the last thing at night you think about. We think on birthdays, Christmas - why can’t we send him a card? Why do we have to live in this nightmare when someone could stop it for us.”

She added: “Terry was a good dad, he looked after his children and I don’t believe he could have left them this amount of time because they were his life, he loved them. He was a bit of a character, he was full of life, full of energy, he was a lovable rogue. He would do anything for anybody.”