Anguished relatives of an elderly man whose farmhouse was destroyed by fire were today waiting to hear whether he perished in the flames.

John Beal, 84, is missing after a devastating blaze broke out at his lifelong home in Low Marishes,Firefighters were called to Bacon Farm, Yedingham Road, Low Marishes, near Malton, after some of his neighbours spotted smoke billowing from the premises.

A distant relative who had not seen Mr Beal for several months told the Evening Press today that Mr Beal was a divorcee who had four sons.

"This must be an agonising time for his family," she said. "We still do not know if he was in the house when the fire started."

Police said today Mr Beal's relatives had been informed of the blaze and were waiting for the outcome of today's excavations.

Chief Inspector Dennis Brewer, leading the investigation, said: "Mr Beal was an old-style farmer who kept himself very much to himself."

Demolition experts were today helping emergency services establish whether Mr Beal was at home when the farmhouse caught fire.

Fire investigation officer Station Officer John Taylor, who is stationed at York, said the farmhouse was extensively damaged in the blaze.

He said: "It appears that the most likely seat of the fire was the ground floor living room.

"The damage was so bad that it was structurally unsafe to enter. The first floor and the roof collapsed, and we can not confirm or deny if there was anyone in the ground floor living room or hallway until we have excavated the scene."

Mr Taylor said they would need to pull the front wall of the farmhouse outwards to allow them to get at the rubble which had collapsed from above.

He said the task of excavating the scene and establishing the cause of the fire would be carried out in conjunction with police scenes of crime and forensic officers.

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