The editor of Gawker, the U.S. gossip website that has led efforts to purchase and bring to light a purported video of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford smoking what appears to be crack cocaine, now says its main contact fears the footage is "gone."

"At the end of last week, after a long silence, the video's owner reached out to the intermediary we have been dealing with. [The owner] told [the intermediary] the video is 'gone,'" wrote John Cook in an update posted Tuesday.

Cook said the message from the video's owner, conveyed to Gawker via the middle man, was: "'It's gone. Leave me alone.'"

In his online post, Cook also said the media attention may have scared the owner of the alleged video.

Cook also said the owner was worried about being identified after the Toronto Star published details about the alleged video's possible location.

Cook added that he does not know if it has been bought or destroyed, or if it is now missing.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/story/2013/06/04/toronto-gawker-ford-video-gone.html