The husband of a British woman who is missing in Greece has claimed a waiter laughed at him when he asked for help.

Michele Ann Joy Bourda, 59, vanished while Chris Bourda, 66, was sleeping on a sunbed on Ofrynio beach near Kavala on Aug 1.

Mr Bourda has hit out at the Greek police for their lack of urgency in searching for his wife who has now been missing for more than a week.

Speaking from Greece, the pharmacist told the Daily Mail they went for a swim in the sea together, ate crêpes at a cafe and he then fell asleep on a lounger on the beach.

“When I woke up she wasn’t there,” he said. “I quickly ran to the toilet and knocked on the ladies but she wasn’t in there. I then ran to the beach to look again in the water.

“I then quickly went back to the waiter to say my wife was missing, have you seen her and he started laughing.”

He said it was only after he said his wife had “psychological problems” that the barman realised how serious the situation was.