Injured dad found tied up in field 10 miles from home

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Injured dad found tied up in field 10 miles from home may have been victim of mistaken identity

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/ ... up-7590962" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Stephen Kite recalls nothing from the time he was checking the oil level of his car to the moment he regained consciousness in a field

A dad found with a head injury tied up in a field ten miles from his home after suddenly vanishing may have been the victim of mistaken identity, his wife believes.

Royal Mail worker Stephen Kite, 37, has told his family he recalls nothing from the time he was checking the oil level of his car outside his home in Crumpsall to the moment he regained consciousness in a field near woods in Marple the following morning.

He had suffered a head injury and has told his family his hands were tied together with shoe-laces.

He says he managed to free himself and walk along a path to a newsagent where the alarm was raised.

He was taken to Stockport’s Stepping Hill Hospital for treatment.

At first he didn’t recognised his worried wife Sheryl when she turned up at his hospital bedside with their two children Reece, 14, and Kayleigh, 17.

Stephen is now recovering at home.

Sheryl believes her husband may have been attacked after being mistaken for someone else.

“That’s all I can think of,” she said.

She said her husband’s memory was ‘nearly all in-tact’ although he still could recall nothing of how he came to be tied up with shoe-laces in a field in Marple.

“He’s still a bit sleepy but he’s getting up and about around the house now.

“It’s just the shock of what happened really,” she said.

She described her Manchester United supporting husband as a ‘family man who never goes out’.

Sheryl said the family was ‘dead chuffed’ with messages of support they have received although she added scepticism expressed on social media came from those who ‘don’t know what we’ve been through’.

She had been watching television in the front room when her husband walked outside to tend to his car on Thursday night.

When she went to check on him 45 minutes later she found the car bonnet open with spilt oil around the engine.

Stephen, who works as an administration officer at the Royal Mail, was nowhere to be seen. He had no phone, keys, cash or bank cards.

Police launched a huge hunt and event scrambled the force helicopter India 99 to try and find him in woodland around Compstall.

His wife then contacted the M.E.N. to tell of the family’s distress and appeal for help to find him.