The family of a missing 85-year-old man have made a desperate plea to find him after discovering a note in his workshop.

Ipswich Star: An old picture of Norman Carter in the RAF.An old picture of Norman Carter in the RAF.

Norman Carter, of Westerfield, failed to return home from work at his printing business Norman Press in Cauldwell Hall Road, Ipswich last Monday.

Mr Carter left a note in his workshop saying: “Sorry I can’t carry on, N”, underneath his keys and glasses. The business’s doors were left unlocked.

His wife Eugenia Carter and daughter Lorraine Postma said Mr Carter’s disappearance was “totally out of character”, but he would always get emotional around times of commemoration of the Second World War.

Suffolk police have received reports of possible sightings. One was by the war memorial in Christchurch Park, Ipswich, on Wednesday. Mr Carter spent three years in the Royal Air Force after the Second World War and his father fought in the First World War with the Army.

Ipswich Star: One of Mr Carter's favourite photographs of daughter Lorraine Postma, who hopes he will see the picture and return home.One of Mr Carter's favourite photographs of daughter Lorraine Postma, who hopes he will see the picture and return home.

“I deep down don’t think it’s good in all honesty, but when you get these little snippets it gives you hope,” said Ms Postma, 50. “We are just begging him to come back, we love him loads and loads and we need him back here safe and sound.”

On Saturday, his wife and daughter went to Felixstowe, where he was last seen on CCTV, to sit in his favourite spot by the beach.

Ms Postma said: “It’s been horrendous, a complete nightmare. Just to think that he could do that when he knows how much we love him. I’m distraught, devastated. If I saw him I would just grab him and give him a cuddle.”

On the day before his disappearance, Mrs Carter, 85, said it was nothing out of the ordinary – they did some gardening and then Mr Carter had a bath.

On Monday morning, Mrs Carter asked her husband to get some bread. He picked up his umbrella, and left his home as usual at 9.50am. He was due to remain at work until 3.30pm, but CCTV images have shown he left work early to catch the number 64 bus to Woodbridge around 3pm, making the return journey to Ipswich at 4.38pm. He was last seen getting the 6.16pm number 75 First Bus at the Old Cattle Market, arriving in Great Eastern Square, Felixstowe, around 7pm.

Anyone who has seen Mr Carter should telephone 101.

Update: A body found at Orford Ness at the weekend has now been identified as being that of Mr Carter.