Parents Offer £15,000 for News of Son Missing in Cambodia

The parents of a student last seen backpacking in Cambodia offered a £15,000 reward yesterday to help find their son.

Eddie Gibson from Hove, East Sussex, was 19 when he went missing more than two years ago after dropping out of university. He turned up in Cambodia weeks later, but has not been seen since.

His parents made an appeal to "the people of Cambodia" on a national television broadcast, asking for clues on the whereabouts or last movements of their son.

"Eddie is a loving and caring son," said his father Mike Gibson, a financier.

"Because we have not heard from him since October 2004 we fear he may not be alive but we still have hopes that our son is safe."

His mother Jo said: "There is nothing worse in life than losing a son, but not knowing what happened to him is even worse."

She added: "I think Cambodians must know through their history what it is like to lose their loved ones. So, if somebody knows what's happened to Eddie, please come forward, and I thank you very much for your help."

Eddie disappeared in early October 2004, three weeks after beginning a course in Asian and Pacific Studies at Leeds University. He withdrew £3,000 from his bank before he departed.

Days later his parents were contacted by the British embassy in Cambodia with news that he had crossed into the country via Thailand. They later learned that he had initially flown into Bangkok, retracing a gap-year trip with friends during which he travelled through south-east Asia.

In previous appeals for information Mike Gibson, who has travelled to the country five times to seek his son, suggested Eddie may have travelled alone from Phnom Penh, the capital, to Poipet, a gambling border town, the day before he vanished.

It is understood Eddie revisited the town, which has a reputation for crime, several times while in the country.

His last known contact with his parents was an email sent on October 24, from Phnom Penh. The message was badly typed and confused. He said he had resolved his problems, was heading home and planned to fly into Heathrow on November 1. He never arrived.

Detectives had been searching for a Cambodian man with criminal associates whom Eddie may have come into contact with. In August four officers from Sussex police travelled to Cambodia to investigate his disappearance, but returned empty-handed.