Family anger over abduction link

Mrs Bayley is relieved her son has been cleared

The family of a man found hanging close to the home of a girl who was abducted and assaulted, have expressed anger at those who suspected him of the attack.

Just days after the abduction of the six-year-old from her house on North Tyneside, Lee Bayley's body was found hanging in a nearby flat.

A week after the 30-year-old died, police ruled him out of the inquiry.

But Mr Bayley's mother Maria hit out at neighbours who she said were "too quick" to condemn her son.

The hunt continues for the man who took the little girl from her bath at her home in Willington Quay and dumped her naked and screaming in an alley.

Mrs Bayley said: "It's been other people, like the neighbours where he lived saying they were pleased that they had caught him, when they didn't know anything about him.

Lee Bayley has been ruled out of the abduction of the little girl

"I do feel a bit relieved now that this has all been made public. But none of us thought for one minute that Lee had done it in the first place."

Mr Bayley's sister Penny Anderson said: "People have been in our back gardens and we have had to keep the kids off school.

"We are really frightened to go out of our own house. Nobody can get to Lee now, but they can get to his family. That's the way people work.

"I feel totally relieved, even though I knew he couldn't do anything like that. But it's a relief that other people know that now."

The family believe the memory of car crash in which Mr Bayley lost a friend was in his mind at the time of his death.

Northumbria Police say they are convinced the inquiry into Mr Bayley's possible link with the abduction has not hampered their investigation.

A spokesman said it was a lead that had to be followed up.