Mystery deepens over 'suicide message' found at beauty spot

The letter was discovered by a member of the public at midday on Sunday at the Broken Scar picnic site, in Darlington.

Its contents sparked a six-hour manhunt involving a police spotter plane, frogmen and a fell rescue team. But last night, detectives were no nearer to solving the mystery.

"We conducted a very extensive search of Broken Scar and the surrounding area with a negative result," said Sergeant Anthony McDougall, of Darlington police.

"The search was called off and we have absolutely no other lines of inquiry."

The note, written in capital letters in blue ink and attached to a teddy bear, was yesterday being tested for fingerprints at Durham Constabulary headquarters.

It reads: "Daddy and Mummy love you always and forever. I know you are getting well looked after.

"All I can say is sorry baby. You are and will always be in our hearts forever. Hope you understand why we did what we did. Love you my sweet little thing."

Sgt McDougall said it could be read in a number of ways, including as a suicide note.

"We always look at worst case scenario, " he said. "We have got a note which infers that the author is obviously desperate about something in their lives. Whoever it is has hit rock bottom. We have to take that very seriously and make the assumption that the person could be intending to harm themselves."

Officers trawled through missing person files and contacted forces in surrounding areas to see if anyone was recently reported missing.

One possibility is that the note was written by a parent to a child they had given away.

"This could have happened years ago and the pangs of guilt could have resurfaced," said Sgt McDougall.

"What we really want is for whoever wrote it to contact us if they can, so we can find out if they are fit and well and get them some help.

"We also want to hear from anyone who was at Broken Scar on Sunday and might have seen anything."

Anyone with information is asked to call police on (01325) 742134.