Influx of tips after show about Dunedin man Timothy Pridding's disappearance airs

A television programme about the cold case of Dunedin man Timothy Pridding, who vanished without a trace in 1994, has prompted an influx of tips for Dunedin police. Photo / 123RF

A television programme about the cold case of Dunedin man Timothy Pridding, who vanished without a trace in 1994, has prompted an influx of tips for Dunedin police.

Detective Senior Sergeant Kallum Croudis, the officer in charge of the file, said that between the time the episode aired on Tuesday night and 10am yesterday, 25 to 30 tips were submitted to police.

The tips had come through directly to the station via the 105 line, the number used to report non-urgent issues to police via phone, on email and via social media sites.

Timothy Pridding. Photo / Supplied

Most of the responses involved new information, all of which needed to be chased down.

Det Snr Sgt Croudis said he could not release the contents of the information received until further work had been done.

The last confirmed sighting of Pridding was on the morning of November 8, 1994.

The 34-year-old left his beloved dog and his car with a friend in St Kilda, saying he would return in a couple of hours, and left with an associate in a Nissan Bluebird car.

Much of the episode of Cold Case, which screened on TVNZ, focused on the driver of the car and his possible role in the disappearance.

It was almost a month before Pridding, a mechanic and low-level cannabis dealer, was reported missing.

At the time of Pridding's disappearance, several people had come forward with information.

However, police revealed that from early on, they were aware key people were actively feeding them misinformation.

Det Snr Sgt Croudis said those people ''will know only too well who they are''.

They had initially made statements to the police at the behest of another person.

''They have almost exclusively withdrawn that information now, and said that those sightings, or sets of circumstances didn't occur, and they had been encouraged to say these things to police by an individual.

''The fear of that individual has waned over time.''

Police urged anyone with information about what happened to Pridding to come forward.