DETECTIVES who spent nine days investigating three severe assaults on a pensioner admitted last night that they may not have even happened.

Brian Sykes, a well-known character around Darlington, was admitted to hospital in a critical condition, but managed to tell police that a gang of men had subjected him to three beatings last month.

Mr Sykes, 65, said he had been drinking in the town centre Nag's Head pub on June 28 when he was attacked in the toilet by three men.

The same trio, he alleged, were responsible for a second attack on him outside Bells Store, in the town's Clifton Road, later that afternoon.

He complained that a third incident occurred after he was followed back to his flat in Hargreave Terrace, where he lives alone.

He was found unconscious on the floor three days later.

A team of 24 police officers worked on the inquiry, studying hours of CCTV footage, talking to pub regulars, dropping leaflets in hundreds of homes and putting up posters.

But Detective Superintendent Dave Jones, who led the investigation, said last night that exhaustive efforts and repeated media appeals had failed to turn up evidence to support the claims.

"We have put in a tremendous amount of work, but without hard evidence to corroborate Brian's story, I have no choice but to stand down the investigating team and close the incident room," he said.

A medical expert has advised police that the marks found on Mr Sykes' body were consistent with lying face down on the floor of his flat for several days. Other injuries could have come from falls.

CCTV footage showed him visiting his newsagents on the morning, but he could not be placed outside his flat again.

The incidents were first reported to police on July 21.

Mr Sykes remained unconscious in Darlington Memorial Hospital last night.