Police have revealed how they were able to track down a man who had left a concerning note to staff in a pub.

The note was left at a pub in Basildon and sparked a police search for a man who was reportedly wearing distinctive clothing.

The police operation to track down the man was successful, and has been highlighted as an example of how detectives look to track down missing or vulnerable people.

Referring to the incident in Basildon where police were called by pub staff who were left a concerning note by a male customer, local policing team acting sergeant Greg Dickinson said: “Officers checked CCTV which showed the man leaving the pub wearing distinctive clothing so we tracked him on CCTV until we ‘lost’ him in the market.

“As we didn’t have any of his details, it caused us a challenge.

“Often, people will have gone missing previously and we’ll have their details, which we can use to find all sorts of useful information to assist our investigation.

“This will include addresses they frequent, people they talk to, associates, family members, vehicles they use.

“But this time we had nothing to go on except what the person looked like. So, we checked all the CCTV ‘black spots’ in the town centre, then the railway station, the bus station, the car parks and the underpasses.”

Serg Dickinson revealed the search for the man received another setback when they were unable to trace him through his bank cards because he had used cash at the pub he had left.

He added: “But we persevered because of our concern. Using his picture, we finally got a name and located a phone number.

“Our inspector was able to speak to the man who said that he was OK.

“However, we can’t just take someone’s word for it – they might not be telling the truth.

“We conducted more checks and allocated officers to go and see the man, check on his welfare and offer him the support that’s there for him.”