A WOMAN was seen weeping at a beauty spot shortly before a teddy bear with a mysterious note pinned to it was found stuffed into railings.

A dog walker saw the woman being comforted by a man in the car park at the Broken Scar picnic site, on the outskirts of Darlington, on Sunday.

He said a teddy bear was lying on the floor next to them.

The witness contacted police after reading in The Northern Echo on Tuesday the story of the note and the six-hour search of the site that followed its discovery.

Part of the letter read: "Daddy and Mummy love you always and forever. You are and will always be in our hearts forever. Hope you understand why we did what we did."

Inspector Brian Maudling, of Darlington police, said the man was walking his dog at about 10.45am when he noticed them.

"The woman was distressed and crying and the man was trying to comfort her," he said. "They were there for at least ten to 15 minutes."

The letter was initially treated as a suicide note but detectives also thought it may have been written by parents to a child they had given away.

Insp Maudling said: "What we need is to speak to the couple urgently so we can clear up the mystery and draw a line under the police operation."

The couple were aged between 30 and 35. The woman was about 5ft 6in and of average build. She had dark shoulder length hair and was wearing dark clothing.

The man was about 5ft 8in and had dark hair, which was brushed over the collar of his black leather coat.

There were two vehicles in the Broken Scar car park at the time, a jewel-grey, 2.8 turbo diesel Mitsubishi Shogun, believed to have been the couple's, and a white Citroen C5.

Police can be contacted on (01325) 742134.

* Detectives have ruled out a link between the note and the stillborn baby girl found buried in a garden in Grange Road, Darlington, last month.

The Crown Prosecution Service said yesterday that the mother of the dead baby, who came forward to police, would not be prosecuted for failing to register the birth.

Arrangements will now be made for the baby's funeral, although a decision as to whether there will be an inquest is yet to be made.