DIVERS have spent much of the night searching for a missing fisherman off the Isle of Wight.

Richard Pullin, 48, a father-of-two from Weymouth in Dorset, went missing from a boat moored off Yarmouth in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Mr Pullin, an experienced fisherman familiar with the waters of the Solent, arrived on the Island on Saturday at about 8.30pm to spend a few days fishing for bass with a friend.

The two men moored their yellow and white fishing boat Flying Fisher close to the harbour office and came ashore, but returned to the boat at approximately 11.30pm.

The friend saw Mr Pullin in his bunk at 2am, but by 4am he had disappeared.

Police and coastguard officers searched the river and harbour and a coastguard helicopter carried out an aerial search.

The police marine unit has made further searches with specialist equipment without success.