Jack, it might have been that you had not posted enough times; the PM facility used to become operational only after 5 posts had been completed although it's possible that figure may have been reduced slightly a few years back.
The person you're looking for hasn't logged in since July last year - this could be for any number of reasons. The website provided, as you point out, is a dead end. There is a "VUDU" tuning on the internet but that appears to be based in Yorkshire, which could be some way away from your chap.
Hopefully someone on here might know him.
