𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Relatives of the British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes have said it is “very painful” he appears to have been hidden away from them.

Speaking to BBC Newsnight, his former sister-in-law told the BBC that she did not know where he was, and nobody had been able to see him.

It has been alleged that Sir Ranulph, 82, has been admitted to a number of care homes under assumed names, after a family rift involving his second wife, Louise Millington-Cotes.

Louise Millington-Cotes did not immediately respond to the allegations, or the BBC’s request for comment.

Cheshire Police have said they are aware of the concerns regarding Sir Ranulph, and are satisfied he is living in an appropriate setting with suitable care.

They said there were “no immediate safeguarding concerns”.

Sir Ranulph has not been seen in public for nearly two years, just months after opening up about a diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease.

He was the first person to visit both north and south poles by surface means in the early 1980s and has been described by The Guinness Book of Records as “the world’s greatest living explorer”.

Sir Ranulph’s stepson, Alex Millington-Cotes, told BBC Newsnight he wanted to see the power of attorney “removed from my own mother” and placed in the hands of people who “have fully his best interests in mind”.

“He’s not an isolated type of person, and so to see him isolated now is very painful,” he said.

Questions about Sir Ranulph’s whereabouts grew in prominence after a report in the Telegraph earlier this month, external in which “members of his inner circle” raised concerns about his whereabouts.