POLICE divers have begun scouring the waters of the Union Canal as fears grow for a missing 74-year-old man.

Dementia sufferer Kenneth Birss has now been missing for six days after leaving his home in North Meggetland for what he said would be a short walk.

Police chiefs are mounting searches across the area in the hope of finding him alive.

His distraught wife, Gwenyth, 68, admitted she was worried there "wouldn't be a happy outcome" but asked for anyone who had spotted her husband of 47 years to contact police. She said: "I just hope he comes round the corner soon and tells me he's had a nice little trip."

His friends from Heriot's Rugby Club have also carried out searches of the area. Yesterday, police dogs were used to search Craiglockhart Hill and the surrounding Napier University campus, as well as the Merchant's Golf Course.

Posters featuring a photograph of Mr Birss have been posted on lampposts and shops. A giant poster has also been attached to the police force's advertising trailer, often used to publicise missing persons cases, which has been parked outside shops in Colinton Road.

Inspector Bryan Rodgers, who is leading the hunt, said: "He knows the immediate area but it would be easy for him to get lost.

"The disheartening thing for us so far has to be that only one witness saw him after he left his house. And that was a nearby neighbour, so we don't even have a direction of where he may have gone.

"We know he likes to use the Union Canal walkway. Because we have to be realistic that he may have had an accident, officers from the marine unit have begun searching the canal by boat. They are carrying out slow traces up and down the water to look for signs of disturbance." Mr Birss, a former insurance adviser, suffers from vascular dementia - the result of a stroke in 2003.

The pensioner was last seen at 7.50pm on Thursday night when he left his home.

An hour later, when he had not returned, family members began to look around the area, before calling in the police.

Over the weekend, teams of police officers checked in gardens and patches of woodland near the banks of the canal.

Insp Rodgers added that officers were examining CCTV footage from nearby streets.

He said: "Although we don't expect that he would've walked too far, Mr Birss does have a bus pass which could take him further outside the immediate area where we are searching.

"His family have also provided us with locations he knows well and has ties to, such as George Heriot's School, where he might have gone."

Mrs Birss said the family were supporting each other while her husband remains missing.

She added: "I feel absolutely numb at the moment. I can't think straight for worry.

"He did wander off about two months before this but someone found him and phoned me. We've told the police he likes Peebles, Montrose and North Berwick so he might have gone there. The police have been wonderful but we're running out of ideas.

"My first concern was that he had wandered off as it began to get dark and slipped and had an accident. I understand why they are searching the canal. I just want to know what's happened to him. As the days go by you do think it's not going to have a happy outcome."

The couple have three daughters.

Mr Birss is around 6ft tall, slim, with short, white hair. He was last seen wearing a royal blue jacket, white shirt, blue V-neck jumper and grey trousers.

Anyone with any information should contact Lothian and Borders Police on 0131 311 3131.

Body of missing pensioner found (Sunday 5th August 2007)

THE body of a pensioner, missing from his Edinburgh home since last week, has been found.

Kenneth Birss, 74, who suffered from dementia, was discovered by police in the early hours of yesterday morning, in Pentland Hills Park near Penicuik – days after search teams scoured the Union Canal with a mini-submarine.