DETECTIVES will today put posters up around a village as they try to piece together the final days of an out-of-work actor who was found dead last week.

The body of divorced father-of-two Stephen Milburn was found on the kitchen floor of his council house in The Grove, Coxhoe nine days ago. It is thought 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.

Yesterday, detectives made an urgent appeal for help from the public 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 in the street near his home, and the discovery of his body on Sunday, November 14.

Detective superintendent Harry Stephenson, who leads a team of around three dozen officers working on the inquiry, said it remained absolutely, vitally important to piece together the deceased's movements, particularly in the days and hours leading up to his death.

Officers admit they are struggling to establish the deceased's whereabouts in the days between September 20 and the day he was last seen alive.

"It remains a puzzle that we have yet to solve and we are looking to the public for help," said Det Supt Stephenson.

"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.

"We need to speak as a matter of urgency to anyone who saw Mr Milburn at any time between September 20 and into late October.

"We need to establish as quickly as possible just where he was and who he talked to."

Police said the dead man was a familiar figure in Coxhoe's Front Street, often carrying a green hold-all.

About five or six weeks before his body was found, he was seen on the X1 express bus service, travelling south towards Sedgefield and Stockton.

House-to-house inquiries are being extended across the village and, as the investigation moves into its second week, a team of scene of crimes examiners are continuing with a fingertip search of the property.

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