This story had been running for a few days after an 18-year-old woman was found brutally murdered in Consett in August 1998.

I got a call from the picture editor of the Evening Chronicle in Newcastle to say that police had been spotted searching for the killer in woodland near the County Durham town. So I drove there but I only knew that they were searching in woodland so I did not have a clue where to begin.

Having said that as I was driving around I did spot trees on the top of a hill on the outskirts of Consett so I decided to have a look. And, when I arrived at the top of the hill, I noticed a few police vehicles parked up so I knew I was in the right place.

Eventually my patience paid off when officers emerged from the trees carrying a metal coffin containing the suspect’s body. It turned out that he had been on the run for a few days and it was understood that he had taken his own life.