POLICE are investigating the death of an elderly man whose body was found in a pond yesterday.

Officers were called to Teesdale Park, in Thornaby, at about noon, after a passer-by spotted the body in a pond adjacent to the new Stockton Riverside College.

It is not known how long he had been there, and a post-mortem examination was due to be carried out last night.

It is thought the man, who was in his 70s, was from the Thornaby area and had been missing from home.

Police have said they expect to name him later this morning, once he has been formally identified.

A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: "A Home Office pathologist was called to the scene and we can confirm the body is that of an elderly man.

"A post-mortem examination was due be carried out last night. Police are treating the death as suspicious until it can be established how he died."

The usually busy complex was brought to a standstill as police cordoned off the area around the site while a police surgeon and forensic experts carried out examinations.

Employees at nearby offices were shocked to discover the police cordon after returning from lunch.

One woman, who works at Churchill, said: "I came back from lunch and there was just police everywhere.

"I was quite shocked.

"Nobody has told us what is going on and we are really curious ourselves. We have heard a few rumours but we do not know."

Julie Eddison, from Middlesbrough, who had been waiting to catch a bus home, said: "It is not every day something like this happens.

"I had just been in to town for lunch and as I was walking back, police just seemed to appear from everywhere.

"They then stopped traffic going along the road and sealed it off.

"There are loads of police cars, vans and police officers. I cannot recall ever seeing so many.