A man from North Wales who left a suicide note on his table was found safe and well in a Tenby hotel 10 days later, a court heard on New Year’s Day.

Forty-year-old Dean Peter Rutter had been due to return to Wrexham police station as a result of an investigation of a sexual nature.

When he did not turn up, police went to his home in, Acrefair, near Wrexham, and found tablets on a table and a suicide note, saying he had taken an overdose and gone to hang himself from a tree.

Prosecutor Mairead Neeson told a New Year’s Day sitting of Flintshire magistrates’ at Mold that a considerable amount of police time had been wasted between December 21-31 as officers tried to find Mr. Rutter.

Investigations showed the defendant had withdrawn cash and bought a new phone.

But he was traced via his mobile phone signal to a hotel in Tenby, where he was arrested on New Year’s Eve.

The court heard how Mr. Rutter had gone to London, but then decided to return to Wales, ending up in Tenby.

Rutter admitted wasting police time and received a three-month jail term, suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to pay costs totalling £165.

The court heard police had been investigating allegations by children of a sexual nature against him, with Mr. Rutter due to return to Wrexham police station at the end of March in respect of that case.