Police searching for missing British ‘van life’ blogger Esther Dingley have interviewed her boyfriend twice as they struggle to find any clues over her disappearance

Police searching for missing British ‘van life’ blogger Esther Dingley have interviewed her boyfriend twice as they struggle to find any clues over her disappearance.

Daniel Colegate, Esther’s partner of 18 years, has given statements to police in Spain and France as they hunt for the hiker.

Gendarme Captain Bordinaro said: ‘Mr Colegate has been interview twice. Once by the Guardia Civil in Spain two days ago and yesterday by the Gendarmerie in Luchon .

‘He has cooperated fully with both forces and continues to do so.’

Captain Bordinaro said police, having searched 28sq km of mountains since she was reported missing by Mr Colegate, 38, on November 24, do not believe that Esther had an accident and is in the Pyrenees.

Police searching for missing British ‘van life’ blogger Esther Dingley, 37, have interviewed her boyfriend Daniel Colegate, 38, (pictured together) twice as they struggle to find any clues over her disappearance in the Pyrenees mountains

Mr Colegate , Esther’s partner of 18 years, has given statements to police in Spain and France as they hunt for the hiker

The officer, who is leading the hunt for the 37-year-old on the French side of the Pyrenees mountains, told MailOnline that while police are keeping an open mind, they believe it is more likely that she either hurt herself or has been harmed by someone in a criminal act.

‘It is not probable that Miss Dingley had an accident and is stranded on the mountain,’ he said.

‘Her disappearance is more likely to be the result of a voluntary or criminal act.

‘We have carried out a very thorough search of the area in the French sector. We have covered 28 square kilometres by foot, drone and helicopter and there is no trace of her.

‘We are cooperating thoroughly with the Guardia Civil Spanish paramilitary who have also carried out a thorough search of their sector.

Police involved in the search warned that Esther could have fallen or she could be sick as the snow fall has made the search harder

‘The Guardia Civil are in possession of the Camping Car that Miss Dingley was driving and that she parked at Benasque, at the bottom of the mountain trail. The vehicle is being examined.

‘Both forces, in France and in Spain, are doing everything we can to locate Miss Dingley.’

The search for missing Miss Dingley was suspended because of bad weather earlier today, after police acknowledged that she could have been attacked. 

The Spanish Civil Guard says it was halting the search because of snowstorms in the Pyrenees, with bad weather expected to continue all weekend. 

While rescuers will hold a daily assessment of whether it is safe to resume, the snow is 'covering the areas and it is therefore more confusing and therefore more difficult', a Civil Guard spokeswoman said. 

Police also announced today that they believe Ms Dingley never crossed the border from Spain to France.  

Spanish and French authorities are both involved in the huge search mission involving drones, helicopters and dogs, but after eight days they are yet to find a trace of the 37-year-old from Durham.  

Mr Colegate who reported her missing on November 24 after two days without contact, is said to be 'very worried', The Mirror reports.

Police chief Laurent Gerin, involved in the search in Bagnères-de-Luchon, said: 'We have no last location. She switched off her mobile from time to time and we have to trace her use of it.

'She could be on another track to the one planned. But she could have been attacked. Her boyfriend is very worried.

'Snow has fallen so that is very bad for the search. She could have fallen, she could be sick – we do not know. We have to check everything.'

The Spanish Civil Guard has taken over the investigation as French counterparts said they did not believe Ms Dingley had crossed the border.

Spanish police issued a second video of the search on Friday, showing officers on skis searching snow-covered mountains.

The video, which is shot from a helicopter, appears to have been shot on Thursday as the search was abandoned on Friday.

'We have had to abandon the search due to the intensive snowfall on Thursday night in the region we are searching. The search for a missing person remains our principal line of enquiry but we are not ruling out any other possibilities,' said a Civil Guard spokesman.

It was revealed on Wednesday night that investigators are seeking a man who gave the solo hiker a lift and Spanish and French authorities believe he could prove crucial in tracking her down. 

Esther shared the existence of the man in a Facebook post on November 19, saying they met by chance at the peak of a mountain, before hiking down together.

She said she had accepted a lift from the man back to her camper van, which was later found abandoned in the Spanish town of Benasque.

Police are hunting for a mystery man who had a chance meeting with Briton Esther Dingley at the top of a Pyrenees mountain three days before she vanished, and took this picture

The meeting happened just three days before Esther was last seen, and police believe the man may hold vital clues about what happened to her. 

She wrote: 'It was the first time I'd seen anyone else for almost two days and as this kind fellow hiker took some photos the weather blew in...

'I had the option of staying at a great caban, even had a mattress, but it was only 2pm or going down with my fellow hiker and getting a lift. 

'He'd take me further up the valley so I could continue my planned tour to another refuge, or back to the camper.

"There will be more days in the hills!" I said to the little part of me that didn't want to go back just yet. 

'This was about making it easy on myself. It would be warm and sunny back at the camper and here was someone willing to take me...

'And then as we drove off this magnificent rainbow �� appeared. Yoga, good food and sunshine and warmth awaited me back at the camper.'

A police source told The Sun: 'This man would have had conversations with her and may know what she planned,' .

Dan Colegate, the British partner of missing hiker Esther Dingley, was searching for her alone in the Pyrenees earlier this week

'They may have arranged to meet and hike another route. It is imperative that we find him.'

The police probe comes after Esther was listed as a missing persons case across Spain, as search teams began to suspect that she is no longer in the mountains.   

Mr Colegate revealed the new information on a joint Facebook page where the couple have documented six years of their nomadic travels across Europe.

He penned the post just hours before snowy weather hit the Pyrenees, which rescuers believe will be the start of the winter snow dump, making search efforts much more difficult.

He wrote: 'With no result day after day, taking into account Esther's high level of experience, the nature of the terrain, the good weather she would have had, the fact she had a clearly defined route for Sunday evening and Monday, and various other factors, both search coordinators have essentially told me that although they can never be 100% sure, the prevailing opinion in the search teams is that she isn't there. 

'That if she had fallen from one of the paths, they really would have expected to find her given the intensity, the closeness of the search and the fact most of the trails are really quite straightforward across open ground.

'As things stand tonight, Esther is now listed as a national missing persons case in Spain and the case has been passed to a specialised judicial unit in France. 

'This means they will be looking at other options beyond a mountain accident.

'While this is a terrifying development in many ways, I'm trying to focus on the fact that it leaves the door open that Esther might still come home. 

'She was so utterly happy and joyful when we last spoke, I'd do anything to see her face and hold her right now.'  

Her plan had been to hike from the town to Pic de Sauvegarde, a mountaintop in the Pyrenees, which she reached on November 22 - sending Mr Colegate a picture via WhatsApp, which was their last contact.

From there she planned to walk between Port de la Gléré and Port de Venasque - a route of some eight miles - before hiking down from the mountains on Wednesday.

But after two days without contact, Mr Colegate reported Ms Dingley missing on November 24, just a day before her trip was due to end, sparking a massive manhunt. 

The 37-year-old from Durham was on a month-long solo trip and was supposed to return on Wednesday

Faced with encroaching bad weather, Spanish police had broadened the search on Tuesday in a last-ditch attempt at finding Ms Dingley. 

Meanwhile French police said they were using phone records to try and hone in on her last known position, due to the 'excellent' signal in the mountains.

Several phone masts are located in the remote spot, meaning her phone would have 'pinged' signal off them for as long as it was turned on.

'There are excellent communications and there is no reason why the last known position of the phone when it went off cannot be found,' French investigators said. 

Footage released on Tuesday shows the helicopter crossing rocky outcrops and icy peaks on the border between Spain and France. 

On Saturday, Mr Colegate said on the couple's Facebook page: 'I'm broken. Shattered to report that my beloved Esther, the person who taught me how to feel, is missing. Search and rescue teams have so far found no trace of her.'

On Monday, he added in a new post on social media: ' I just wanted to write a short thank you for all the support and messages that have arrived in the past few days.

Esther Dingley, 37, was hiking the Pyrenees mountains on the border between France and Spain when she vanished last week

'I want to write a more complete update soon, but as of now there is still no sign of Esther anywhere in the area she was intending to explore, despite extensive searching from both sides of the border.

'I am going to do some more walking myself now before the sun goes down.'

At one point in the Spanish police film, the helicopter hovers over a lone woman on a hillside while an officer, using a microphone, asks her: 'Are you Esther?'

The woman shakes her head as if to say no. Then the officer asks if she is Spanish and she nods in agreement before the helicopter flies away.

A spokesman for Spain's Civil Guard said: 'We have broadened the search to nearby hills and the search party has increased. We are not only using mountain rescue personnel but also all members of the environmental team who are available in the Huesca area. We continue to keep an open mind about where Ms Dingley might be now.'

French police sent a search team of sixteen people up the mountain on Monday along with national police experts.

On his Facebook page, Mr Colegate's father, Mick, said: 'We've spoken son and you know that I will be on the first available flight when you come down from the mountains ..you don't have to be strong and face this all alone…love you son.'

Ms Dingley started walking from Benasque, Spain, on November 21. French police said all trace of her was lost at 4pm on Sunday, November 22. No more phone messages were received after then.

Spanish authorities were alerted on November 25 of her disappearance and alerted their French counterparts the following morning. They found her vehicle on the Spanish side of the border.

Miss Dingley was a yoga enthusiast who had been a private trainer before giving up her career to travel around Europe

The paths she was taking were marked, well-indicated on maps and pretty well-frequented in normal times, French police said.

Several witnesses saw her on the Spanish side on Sunday and spoke to her.

There is an unmarked refuge just over the French border but police said there was no sign that it had been used.

A spokesman for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, said: 'Our staff are supporting the family of a British woman reported missing in the Pyrenees.'