Dr Andrew Samuel: Colleagues pay tribute to 'important figure'

A man who went missing at sea off the west coast of Scotland has been hailed by colleagues as an "important and influential figure" at his university.

Dr Andrew Samuel, a sociology lecturer at Abertay University, was last seen off Kinloch on Rum at about midnight on Tuesday.

Police confirmed a body had been found on Sunday morning.

The body has still to be formally identified, but police said Dr Samuel's family had been informed.

Dr Samuel went missing after leaving his yacht in a dinghy.

Although he was last seen on Tuesday, an alarm was not raised until Thursday when he did not move his yacht to another location as planned.

The 59-year-old, from Fife, was a lecturer at the university for more than 20 years.

Colleagues described him as well-known, liked and respected, as well as an important and influential figure.

Prof Liz Bacon, the university's principal and vice-chancellor added: "His research interests were in land reform, bothy culture and many other areas.

"He will be greatly missed by our staff, students and alumni and we are offering support to all in the university community at this sad time."

On Thursday, a search effort involved the Stornoway coastguard helicopter and Mallaig's RNLI lifeboat.

The dinghy thought to belong to Mr Samuel was found in the area.

Coastguard rescue teams from Mallaig, Eigg, Muck, Kyle, Dunvegan and Portree were also involved.

The search was ramped up on Saturday with a police helicopter joining search efforts.

Police Scotland said there were no apparent suspicious circumstances and a report would be submitted to the procurator fiscal.