A PROLONGED search for a missing pensioner has ended with the discovery of a body.

Remains found at a plant hire yard in Todd Point Road, Redcar, have been identified as those of 82-year-old George Winter, who had not been seen since Sunday, January 21.

There had been extensive searches for him on land, and using an RAF helicopter and lifeboat.

Appeals for sightings of Mr Winter were broadcast on Crimewatch UK earlier this year.

British Transport Police showed passengers at Redcar, Middlesbrough and Darlington railway stations photographs of Mr Winter in a bid to get a clue about his whereabouts. Bus passengers were also asked for help and Cleveland Police had posters printed.

His body was found by workers near some unused machinery in the plant hire yard.

Police, who say the body had been lying in the yard for a considerable time, have contacted the pensioner's daughter, Margaret Parkin, from Guisborough, who is in Dubai, where her 28-year-old daughter, Joanne, died in a car accident late last year.