Annette Milne, sister of missing man Phillip Jones, speaks out in the hope of finding him

Annette Milne has always considered herself her twin brother’s protector. She was always there when he needed help.

She was there for him when his marriage ended and she helped care for him when he had a fall in his home several years ago.

But Ms Milne finds herself in a devastating situation, because her brother, Phillip Jones, vanished late last year without a trace.

Mr Jones, a builder by trade and a passionate photographer, went missing from the Dunsborough home he shared with his mother on December 16.

Nobody has seen him since. His bank accounts haven’t been touched.

To mark national missing persons week, which starts tomorrow, Ms Milne spoke out in the hope that someone might know where her brother went.

“It just caught me completely off guard,” Ms Milne told The Sunday Times.

“He literally walked out the door with the clothes he had on his back.”

Ms Milne said the last time she saw her twin - who has two daughters living in the Eastern States - was on the morning of December 16 when he came to her house for a coffee.

In hindsight, Ms Milne believes he wanted to catch up to say “goodbye.”

A search of his bedroom, after he went missing, found his phone, his wallet, his laptop and a bracelet with his daughter’s names of it.

“My husband and I and even my 78-year-old mum were getting up at 4.30am in the morning walking up sand dunes and up the beach in 38 degree heat trying to find him,” Ms Milne said.

“We were just hoping to see something.

“You need closure, but there is no closure. What do we tell his daughters?

“It is devastating every day, it doesn’t end.

“I have always been there to protect him but he didn’t even give me a chance to do anything this time.”

Mr Jones was wearing a black polo shirt, knee length cargo shorts and work boots or sneakers when he went missing. He may have also had a Camelback brand water pack with him.

He didn’t have access to a car at the time.

Mr Jones’ disappearance is one of 350 long term missing persons cases currently on the books of the WA Police missing persons unit.

Senior Constable Joe Burr said police had followed up numerous leads in search of the 55-year-old.

“If he had walked out into the bush, usually we expect him to be located by now, especially around that time of year,” he said.

“We have tried to spread our investigation as wide as we can.”

Anyone with information is urged to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.