CHRISTMAS cards and letters sent to a missing man’s house remain unopened as friends wait for news about their neighbour’s disappearance.

The normally meticulous Peter Moffatt, 67, completed his Sudoku puzzle as always on the afternoon of Tuesday, November 29, before leaving his house. He has not been seen since.

Police and neighbours suspect that a man seen jumping from Blackwell Bridge, in Darlington, later that night was Mr Moffatt. However, a body has never been found.

After days of painstaking searches that involved the police, fire brigade, divers and a mountain rescue team, the investigation was scaled back with no sign of a body.

Mr Moffatt’s neighbours continue to look after his property and affairs.

John Hovington has lived opposite Mr Moffatt for a number of years and alerted the emergency services to his disappearance after finding a suicide note at his house on the morning after his disappearance.

Each day, he and his wife go to the house to open and draw the curtains and check everything is in working order.

Mr Hovington said: “We will keep doing this until we know for certain what has happened.

“People are very much in limbo at the minute. He is still receiving Christmas cards, bills and letters.

“I noticed a round robin letter in his magazine rack from 2008, so I figured it must have been a cherished possession of Peter’s.

“I phoned the man who sent the letter. He worked with Peter and said he would inform his old work colleagues of the situation.

“I also managed to trace a woman who lives in Edinburgh from a postmark on a Christmas card. She was a cousin of Peter’s.

“She was devastated when she heard the news, but has said she will inform other family members.

“Peter is not coming back.

Motorists saw somebody taking off a coat and police brought back his green fleece from the bridge.

“I do not understand where he could have gone. If he made it out of the river, he could not have got far. He was not hugely fit and the fall from the bridge would have surely left him injured.

“They had the dog squad out along with the search and rescue almost immediately, so there is no way he could have got very far.”

Anyone with any information is asked to call police on the non-emergency number, 101.

􀁧 Do you know Mr Moffatt?

Contact The Northern Echo newsdesk on 01325-606064.