POLICE are turning to social media in a bid to trace missing Hartlepool man Darren Waller, who has not been seen for nine days.

Officers are urging anyone signed-up to Facebook or Twitter to visit the Cleveland Police pages and share the information about his disappearance.

People visiting the Cleveland Police Facebook page can click on the share button under the photo of Darren Waller to post the information to their profile page.

Anyone who is on Twitter is being asked to ‘re-tweet’ the updates that are on the Cleveland Police Twitter Page.

As thousands of people from across the Cleveland Force area access social media sites on a regular basis, officers are hoping to capture these people to spread the message about Darren’s disappearance far and wide.

Detective Inspector Anne-Marie Salwey said: “Websites such as Facebook and Twitter are extremely popular tools and are a good way of getting messages out to a wide audience.

“It is important that people look at the photo of Darren and consider whether they may have seen him since he has been missing. We are concerned that he has been missing for this length of time as it is extremely out of character for him to not have contact with his children.

“We all want to know that he is safe and well and using social media is another tool at our disposal to help us trace him.”

Darren was last seen at an address in the Rossmere area of the town on Sunday, January 9 at around 5.30pm.

Darren was last seen wearing a light blue sweater with dark stripes across the chest, dark blue jeans, white trainers and had an earring in his left ear.

He is described as 5ft 8ins tall, white, with a shaved head and tattoos on his hands and arms.

Anyone with any information can contact Cleveland Police on 01642-326326. Both Twitter and Facebook pages can be found by visiting www.facebook.com/clevelandpolice or www.twitter.com/clevelandpolice or visit www.cleveland.police.uk and click on the Twitter of Facebook icons on the home page.