It could take longer than expected to determine whether the skeleton found in a field in Qala on Sunday is that of an elderly missing Briton because the DNA sample might have to be sent abroad for testing.

Sources said forensic experts were extracting a DNA sample from the bones to compare it to a sample taken from Geoffrey Morgan’s daughter.

The 80-year-old dementia sufferer had gone missing more than five months ago in Gozo. Mr Morgan, whose mother was Maltese, is the only person reported missing in Gozo and is still unaccounted for.

He was on holiday with his family when he was reported missing on June 5. That morning he was getting ready for breakfast with his wife and daughter when he slipped out of the front door of their Għajnsielem flat. That was the last time his family saw him.

He was wearing a dark red striped shirt, khaki coloured shorts and black shoes. The sources said there were no clothes with the remains found in Qala. There was nothing unique that could link, in a definitive manner, the skeleton to Mr Morgan, the sources added.