A story which has captured the public and media’s imagination across the planet is also keeping the local press busy.

It’s now 13 days since John Darwin walked into a London police station and declared himself a missing person.

In the intervening fortnight his sons have discovered they still have a father while his wife was forced to admit she knew he was alive all along.

And the Hartlepool Mail has been working hard to keep their readers abreast of one of the biggest news stories of the year.

Their website even has a dedicated John Darwin Mystery section.

Mail editor Joy Yates told holdthefrontpage: “When the John Darwin story broke, the Hartlepool Mail was first on the scene to speak to residents at Seaton Carew, where he was thought to have vanished.

“We also had substantial background copy and a photograph from our archives of the ‘back-from-the-dead’ canoeist following our extensive coverage of Darwin’s “presumed drowning” in 2002.

“Journalists and camera crews from all around the world descended on Hartlepool and we gave interviews to various media including Sky, BBC News 24, BBC Wales and Fox TV and most recently Le Monde newspaper.

“Deputy editor Gavin Foster also gave live interviews on radio stations in New Zealand and Ireland as well as Five Live Drivetime and the Jeremy Vine Show on BBC2.

“TV stations also requested our exclusive website video coverage which was the only moving footage of John Darwin leaving Hartlepool Magistrates’ Court.