MISSING New Forest man Joshua Savage was located safe and well at a friend's house yesterday evening.

The 20-year-old went missing from his parents' house in Coach Hill Lane, Burley, shortly after breakfast at 7am on Friday last week, and wasn't heard of until 8.30pm last night.

His dad and the friend's mum both contacted police to let them know the search could be lifted, as Mr Savage was staying the night in a cabin in the friends' garden in Bransgore.

He arrived there last night at about 7pm. It is not clear where he had been living over the intervening period.

A Hampshire Police spokesman said a mental health assessment would be carried out today for Mr Savage, who had told his brothers and sisters the day before he went missing that he planned to leave home very soon as he thought things would be better without him.

The Force checked ATM records to try and trace his possible location, and he was believed to be either living rough in the New Forest or to have travelled to London or Reading.

He was spotted in Winchester city centre at around 3pm on the day he went missing by someone who knew him.