A FATHER of four who went missing on Thursday has been found dead.

Dave Hampton, a 64-year-old from Pill, Newport, was found this afternoon in the Queensway Meadows area of the city, Gwent Police said.

He was last seen by his partner Sara Webb, 40, on Thursday night.

Earlier today more than 100 family and friends had been searching in the rural south of Newport near where he was last seen.

A spokesman for the force said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.

Both the force and Dr Hampton's family thanked everyone who helped in the search, following a missing persons appeal across the city and social media.

Dr Hampton worked as a biochemist in the Pathology Lab at the Royal Gwent Hospital, Newport.

Today, more than 100 family and friends joined in the search to find him, congregating at Newport Retail Park's Longditch Road, within a mile of the last place his mobile phone was detected.

Volunteers from across Newport searched the long grasses, reens and marshland in the flatlands near to where he was last seen.

The group split in two, with one party starting out from Pye Corner and the other from Goldcliff, with the aim of meeting in the middle in the later afternoon.

Miss Webb, speaking today before her partner was found, said the number of people turning out to help had been overwhelming.

On Thursday evening the couple had attended a concert at Trinity College in Carmarthen where Dr Hampton's son, Daniel, 20, was performing.

However the couple left after the first half because Dr Hampton felt ill. Miss Webb had told the Argus he had felt confused, had a tempreature and was tired.

Later that night Dr Hampton left his home, saying he had wanted to see if Asda was open.

He was later seen on CCTV buying a bag of chips and going into a pub for a pint, and was spotted at a travellers site on Tatton Road, near Queensway Meadows, at 1.30am on Friday.

The residents had offered him a cup of tea but he said no and walked off.

Security guards at an industrial building then saw him trying to get past a barrier at 2am.

His disappearance led to a social media campaign on Twitter and social media to help find him.

Miss Webb said yesterday that people sharing his picture on social networks had led to people reporting they had spotted him in the area.

UPDATE 8.20PM

A spokesman for the Royal Gwent hospital said: "We were extremely saddened to hear the news today and our thoughts are with David's family and friends. We will do our utmost to support the colleagues David worked alongside at the Royal Gwent Hospital where he was a well respected and incredibly popular member of biomedical sciences team."