A FARMER missing from home since last month has turned up safe and well, 300 miles from his North-East home.

Police closed their six-week hunt for Frank Johnson, of West Shipley Farm, near Hamsterley, County Durham, after he contacted his family by telephone at the weekend.

Mr Johnson, 55, had not been seen since he left home on Friday, May 10 for a meeting, leaving his car outside the Department for the Environment Food and Rural Affairs offices in Northallerton, North Yorkshire.

He took his passport and some money, but gave his wife Jean -who is believed to have been living away from the farm - and their teenage son and daughter no clue to where he had gone.

A member of a farming family, Mr Johnson spoke in March of his happiness at being able to rebuild his herd after losing more than 1,000 cattle and sheep when foot-and-mouth was diagnosed a year earlier.

Police said yesterday Mr Johnson had been traced when he bought a new mobile phone at a shop in London.

Detective Chief Inspector Bruce Turnbull, of Bishop Auckland CID, said: "Mr Johnson bought a new phone and he used it to telephone home.

"He has spoken to his daughter. He is having time out and will come back them when he is ready.

"He is in the south of the country where he has been applying for jobs. He is well.

"Police had been leaving messages on his old mobile phone asking him to get in touch. When he bought this new one, he gave his details and we were able to trace him."