A POLICE search and rescue team was scouring the north Durham countryside yesterday for an infirm 80-year-old who disappeared from home in the middle of the night.

Jacob Elliot, of Coronation Avenue, Sunniside, near Gateshead, was spotted wandering down the A6076 towards Stanley by a taxi driver at 4.20am yesterday.

Partially blind and generally infirm, Mr Elliot was last seen by his wife at 3.50am when she woke up briefly.

She drifted back to sleep, but awoke at 5.35am to find her husband gone. She and other family members are very worried because he has never been missing before.

Mr Elliot, who is not a very good walker, is not thought to have got very far. Yesterday, officers from Northumbria and Durham police teamed up to search the north of the county for him. A police helicopter, dogs, and a search and rescue team were also involved in the search.

He is described as 5ft 5in, with a medium build, with short, wavy white-blond hair and blue eyes.

Anyone who may have seen Mr Elliot, who has been in poor health recently, is asked to contact Northumbria Police on 0191-454 7555.