A former reporter has returned to a regional daily to produce a true crime podcast about an unsolved mystery.

Former Sunderland Echo journalist Fiona Thompson has teamed up with its publisher National World to present ‘Testimony: The Body on Seaham Beach’.

The podcast tells the story of the unsolved case of human remains that were discovered on the beach on 13 May 2006.

Fiona, pictured, now works as a communications officer for South Tyneside and Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.

She said: “This case has stayed with me for the last 16 years. I had never seen anything like it before, or since for that matter.

“This body washed ashore at Featherbed Rocks and no-one knew who it was. Durham Constabulary set to work straight away and I stayed close to the investigation as they introduced amazing cutting edge science and technology to try to identify this unknown.

“I got to know some of those involved in the case quite well such as Cliff Down the Detective Sergeant and Neville Dixon, the Coroner’s Officer and for all of us, this case has always stayed in the back of our minds.

“By making the podcast we wanted to explore everything that happened and ask the question if something was missed or if more could have been done.

“I still feel this case can be solved, someone out there knows who this is.

“The podcast contains everything we know about this man and I hope that something will click with a listener and we can finally say who this person is and return them to their family.”

The two-part podcast is a production of Laudable, the podcasting project involving National World and Reach plc.