Appeal by murder victim's family

Police say their thoughts are with the family

The brother of a Tyneside man murdered in his home has renewed an appeal for information on what would have been the dead man's 45th birthday.

Syd Baldwin was last seen on 19 May. His body was found in his Fifth Avenue home in Heaton, Newcastle, two days later.

He had suffered head injuries, which police believe were inflicted by someone he met and invited back to his home.

On Thursday Mr Baldwin's brother, Arthur, speaking on behalf of his family, urged witnesses to come forward.

Mr Baldwin was last seen on 19 May

He said: "We're confident the police will find who did this, so we're asking whoever it is to come forward now so that we can get justice for Syd."

Since the police investigation began, the inquiry has traced almost 100 friends and associates of Mr Baldwin, many of whom are regulars - as he was - at the Chillingham Arms pub.

Arthur Baldwin, 47, added: "He was a great character. All sorts of people came up to us at the funeral who'd known him years ago and spoke of him with real affection.

"Some of them didn't even know his second name, he was Little Syd or Syd the Kid, to a lot of people.

'Badly wrong'

"Syd had some problems but we always thought of him as a vulnerable person. He didn't deserve this."

Detective Chief Inspector Dave Borrie said: "It is looking increasingly likely that Syd's murder resulted from a meeting with an acquaintance which went badly wrong.

"We're following a number of lines of inquiry which we are confident will lead us to that person.

"In the meantime, our thoughts are with Syd's family at what must be a particularly distressing time."