A DRUG addict found dead in a flat on Teesside was probably murdered for a drugs debt, police said yesterday.

Robert Parkin was allegedly beaten several times over the course of four or five days before he died in a top-floor flat, in Shaftesbury Street, Stockton.

Police have arrested a man and two women suspected of being involved in his death and predicted their manhunt would lead to more arrests.

Mr Parkin, 29, a drifter known as Swampy, sometimes sold the Big Issue magazine for the homeless in Stockton town centre.

He was discovered lying on a makeshift bed in the flat's kitchen.

The heroin addict, who was known to the police, had been beaten, but had refused hospital treatment during the weekend before his body was discovered, last Thursday.

Detective Superintendent Mark Braithwaite, who is leading the operation, said yesterday: "We are now treating this as a murder inquiry.

"As a result, we carried out a large-scale operation in the early hours of this morning at a number of Stockton addresses.

"We arrested three people on suspicion of being involved in Robert Parkin's murder and they are now being held for interviews at police stations across Cleveland."

Det Supt Braithwaite said he believed the cause of the attack was a drugs debt and that violence continued against Mr Parkin for days.

The results of forensic tests carried out on the body, the flat and other items were not expected to be known for several weeks, he said.

Police want to speak to anyone in the area of Shaftesbury Street - which includes large ethnic minority and asylum seeker communities - who knew Mr Parkin or his associates.

Det Supt Braithwaite said: "It is evident that he was well-liked and there is considerable sympathy on the street for him.

"But we want that sympathy to be turned into action and want people to contact us."

Anyone with information is asked to contact Det Supt Braithwaite on a confidential hotline, on 07771 771314.

People can also speak to officers working in the incident room at Cleveland Police headquarters, on (01642) 302389, or Crimestoppers, on 0800 555111