Body found in search for missing Tyneside man James Prout
Five people, including two men and three women, have been arrested on suspicion of murder
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Your support makes all the difference.A body has been found in a police search for a North Tyneside man who had been missing for over a month.
Officers looking for James Prout found the body a short distance from his home on St Stephen’s Way in Percy Main.
The discovery was made on Easter Sunday at around 3:30pm, just hours after Northumbria Police launched a murder inquiry into the 43-year-old’s disappearance.
The body has not been formally identified, but police say they believe it is Mr Prout, and have informed his family.
Five people, including two men - aged 26 and 42 - and three women - aged 55, 49, and 25, remain in police custody having been arrested on suspicion of murder. They are understood to come from Mr Prout’s “circle of friends”.
Mr Prout was reported missing on Good Friday, but it emerged he had not been seen for weeks.
A major search nearby Mr Prout’s home was undertaken after police were called to a violent incident at an address in St Stephen's Way at about 8am on Good Friday.
Police initially issued an appeal for information over the whereabouts of Mr Prout and his ex-partner Anne Corbett, 25.
Ms Corbett was found safe in the Durham area on Saturday.
Northumbria Police Superintendent, Peter Bent, has stressed this is an “isolated incident” and there is “no risk to the wider community”.
"Our officers have been speaking to a number of people and searches have been conducted on St Stephen's Way and in the area surrounding it,” said Mr Bent.
"As a result of those searches police have found a body a short distance from his home address. Formal identification is yet to take place but we are fairly certain that it is James Prout.”
Additional reporting by Press Association
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