DETECTIVES fear villagers have put up a wall of silence over the death of an out-of-work actor, because they wrongly believe he was a paedophile.

The body of divorced father-of-two Stephen Milburn was found on the kitchen floor of his council house in The Grove, Coxhoe, on November 14. He may have been dead for up to three weeks.

The 43-year-old had been stabbed twice in the chest, but police have yet to determine whether the wounds were self-inflicted or whether someone else was involved.

Det Supt Harry Stephenson, who is leading a 36-strong team investigating the death, said during the ten-day inquiry his officers had repeatedly been told by Coxhoe residents that Mr Milburn was a convicted sex offender.

"There is absolutely no evidence to support the allegations," said Det Supt Stephenson.

"I have a very real concern that people are holding back because of these unfounded claims."

Posters have been put up in the village and detectives want help in tracing his movements in a month-long gap between the last confirmed sighting of Mr Milburn on October 26, when a neighbour saw him near his home, and the discovery of his body.

Det Supt Stephenson said: "The Grove in Coxhoe where the dead man lived is a tight knit community, but we are getting remarkably little information about his movements."

Police are struggling to establish the dead man's whereabouts in the days between September 20 and the day he was last seen alive.

"The conundrum is that, while on the one hand Mr Milburn appears to have cut something of a lonely figure in the community where he lived, he also appears to have known a lot of people across the region," he said.

Anyone who has any information is asked to ring the incident room on (0191) 375 2236 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.