RESCUERS found a missing man within 20 minutes of receiving the call to search for him.

The elderly and vulnerable man from the Helmington Row area of Crook, County Durham, was reported missing at about 1.15am today (April 30) by Durham Police.

He had been last seen at 8.30am on Tuesday (April 29) and was known to walk the footpaths around Crook Golf Course.

The Teesdale and Weardale Search and Mountain Rescue team were contacted with a description of the missing man circulated.

At about 1.30am one of the team’s volunteers, who was heading to Crook to join the search, spotted a man in Durham.

The team member saw the man, who was wearing a distinctive straw hat, near Prebends roundabout in the city, and established it was the missing man after speaking to him.

Mark Davis, team duty controller, said: “It is unusual to find a missing person so quickly especially when they are so far from the search area, however this is why we give an early description to team members just in case they see the person when they are enroute to the incident.

“In this case it worked extremely well."

Team press officer Steve Owers said: “It was a good result, it was not the normal route the member would have taken but on this occasion he decided to go that way.”

The man, who was around eight miles away from where he had last been seen, was said to be fine and returned home.