Farmland searched in murder hunt

Darren Manders was known to police in Middlesbrough

Farmland is being searched by detectives hunting the killer of a Teesside father, whose body was found under a woodpile more than two months ago.

The body of Darren Manders, 31, was found under a pile of logs near Nunthorpe Village in early July.

His body had lay undiscovered for some time and had suffered massive head injuries.

Now, the officer in charge of the murder hunt, says he believes he is a "significant step" closer catching the killer.

A thorough search is being made of the Morton Carr Lane area off the A172, north-east of Middlesbrough.

Detective Superintendent Karnil Dulku, of Cleveland Police said a specialist search squad was carrying out the detailed investigation of the area.

Mr Manders, who left behind two sons, was a drug addict and known to the police.

He was last seen alive on the evening of 5 June.

'Significant development'

Mr Dulku said: "New information has been received by the inquiry.

"Officers will be combing the area in a bid to find new clues of how and where Darren met his death.

"This is a significant development. We have a number of specially trained search officers who will be examining a specific area of farmland.

"We believe from the information we have received that we can make significant steps forward in tracing Darren's killer.

"We would not be sending significant resources into the area without good reason.

"This is a new lead in the murder inquiry which has led us to a new location and I would appeal to anyone in the area who may have seen anyone acting suspiciously or any suspicious vehicles travelling around the night of 5 June or early morning of 6 June to contact us."

In August more than 700 people were stopped during an "unprecedented" operation to track down the killer of Manders.

More than 50 officers sealed off an area of Middlesbrough town centre for five hours and stopped 180 vehicles.