Two dead in Darlington from suspected 'bad' heroin batch

Two people have died and a third is critically ill after taking what police suspect was a "bad batch" of heroin.

Durham Police said all three incidents are believed to have taken place in the North Road area of Darlington over a 36-hour period.

A man in his 40s was found dead on Saturday morning. A second man in his 20s was found dead on Saturday night.

A third man in his 30s was admitted to hospital on Saturday afternoon where he remains in a critical condition.

Officers are warning that a particularly dangerous batch of heroin may be in circulation, but said they were unable to confirm at this stage that all three incidents were linked.

All three men were found at their respective home addresses.

Det Sergeant John Tyers of Darlington CID, said: "We suspect that all three men involved have injected an unknown substance, which may be heroin.

"It is unusual to have a cluster of cases like this and we fear that there may be a bad batch of drugs in circulation.

"These drugs are clearly potentially deadly: we would urge users not to risk their life by taking substances without knowing what they are injecting."

Investigations into the three incidents are continuing.