DETECTIVES last night confirmed that a man found dead close to where a six-year-old girl was abducted from her bath had died as a result of hanging.

The body of Lee Bayley was found in a flat in the vicinity of the girl's home in North Tyneside. Police said they were not seeking anyone else in connection with the death.

The girl had been snatched from her bath, sexually assaulted, then dumped naked in a freezing street.

In recent days, detectives had been urging the paedophile responsible, who they branded as extremely dangerous, to give himself up before officers knocked on his door.

Police said they were exploring any potential links between Mr Bayley, who lived in a flat in Bewicke Road, Willington Quay, and the abduction of the girl on December 27.

Forensic teams were searching the ground-floor flat for clues, and Mr Bayley's car, believed to be a red Ford Escort, was towed away for examination.

A major part of the inquiry into the abduction centred around a red hatchback car.

Angela Paolozzi, Mr Bayley's aunt, of Holy Cross, North Tyneside, declined to comment last night, except to say: "He didn't do anything."

Another relative, who lives in Wallsend, said: "He was always in trouble when he was young.

"He fell out with his mum and used to run away. He had a bad temper and could not be controlled."

But that did not mean he was capable of abducting a child, she said.

"Maybe the police have put two and two together and got five," she said.

Mr Bayley was the innocent victim of rioting Newcastle United fans as 600 hooligans went on the rampage through the city centre in May 1996, after their team failed to win the Premiership title.

Mr Bayley was celebrating his 21st birthday in Newcastle's Bigg Market when he was set upon by a mob in an unprovoked attack.

Last week, Northumbria Police launched an investigation after the girl's mother discovered her child was missing from the ground-floor bathroom.

She was found shivering and screaming by a man in Armstrong Road, about 15 minutes after being abducted.