DETECTIVES investigating the death of a former actor are awaiting the results of a second post-mortem examination being carried out this afternoon to give a clearer picture of how and when he died.

The body of divorced father-of-two Stephen Milburn was found on the kitchen floor of his two-bedroomed council house in The Grove, Coxhoe, near Durham City, on Sunday.

The 43-year-old had been stabbed twice and a blood-stained weapon was recovered from the scene - although police have yet to determine whether the wounds were self-inflicted or whether a third party was involved.

It is thought Mr Milburn may have been dead for several weeks and forensic experts continued working at the scene yesterday in an attempt to determine when he died.

Yesterday, a mobile police station was set up outside the house and officers stepped up house-to-house inquiries in the area in an effort to determine the last confirmed sighting of Mr Milburn.

A team of 36 officers are working on the case, trying to build up a picture of Mr Milburn's movements.

Detective Superintendent Harry Stephenson, who is leading the inquiry, appealed for anyone who had seen Mr Milburn at any time since the middle of October, to get in touch with police.

He said: "I am keeping a totally open mind as to whether he has injured himself or whether someone else has been involved.

"There is a community here which will have information about what has happened - he must have walked up and down the streets and we need to know whether anyone saw him or whether anyone saw anything unusual at the house."

Officers have traced Mr Milburn's brother, now living in Australia, but admit they still do not know a great deal about the deceased - described by neighbours as something of a loner.

Over recent months, Mr Milburn, a former actor in TV's Byker Grove, has had several run-ins with local youths and the upper windows of his former home are still spattered with mud, thought to have been thrown deliberately.

Last year, Mr Milburn was given a suspended prison sentence after he admitted pointing an air pistol at a teenage boy during a confrontation on the doorstep of his former home in nearby Bowburn.

Police yesterday confirmed that Mr Milburn had been arrested during the summer after a similar incident at his new address, but the matter had not come to court.

Anyone who has information about Mr Milburn's movements is asked to ring the police incident room on 0191-375 2236 or anonymously on Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.