Mystery surrounds the final hours of a North-East grandmother who plunged from a bridge to her death on the side of the A1M this morning.

Jean Rees, 61, went missing from her Darlington home between Monday night and Tuesday morning and was eventually found shortly after 2.20am yesterday, about a mile away.

A lorry driver travelling on the A1 had alerted police about a woman standing on the A67 bridge at Merrybent, some 20ft above the motorway.

But when one of Durham Constabulary's traffic cars arrived, they found Mrs Rees' body on the hard shoulder below. She was confirmed dead at the scene by a police surgeon.

Last night, a police spokesman confirmed Mrs Rees had been reported missing by her family, having disappeared from her Fulthorpe Avenue home during the course of the previous night.

An investigation has been launched to piece together her whereabouts between leaving her home and her death and a postmortem examination is likely to be carried out today.

It is not believed Mrs Rees had been in a collision with any vehicles and the Couth Durham Coroner is expected to open an inquest soon.