Brian Smettem, who lives with his family in the Owton Manor area of Hartlepool, said today that his 55-year-old father, also called Brian, had lived in the bedsit at the top of number 4 The Cliff for 17 years when the Darwins bought the building.
When the Darwins moved in he stayed on and was one of several residents renting rooms in the building next door to where the Darwin family lived.
Amid massive speculation and claim and counter-claim about Darwin's movements during the 'missing' years, it has been reported that when John Darwin returned home after going missing he lived with Anne and sneaked through a passage way to the property next door when visitors and family came to see "widow" Anne.
Brian, who has a partner Amanda and three children Ashley, 14, Daryl, 16, and Dean 15, said that when he heard this news he put two and two together and thinks it may have something to do with his father's leaving the property.
Brian's father had been living at the property for just a couple of years when John Darwin's disappearance hit the headlines in March 2002.
Brian, 37, said: "He still lived there for over a year after John disappeared and then suddenly, close to the time she is saying he came back, Anne suddenly decided that my dad had to leave.
"She gave him a note that said all the tenants were being given two months notice because she was going to revamp the rooms. But it ended up only being my dad that left, the others stayed which just seems strange.
"He had nowhere else to go and I can only think now it was because she wanted the room for John."
He said: "I went back a couple of times after my dad moved out to get some of his things and she was already in the room moving things in.
There was a door in my dad's room that lead to another room and that room had another door which we think led to a passage, there was a wardrobe in front of one of the doors."
Brian now thinks that Anne made his dad leave because, unlike the other people living in the bed sits, his dad often had visitors.
Brian, who works as a pizza assistant, said: "I used to go round all the time and the kids used to go and stay the night at my dad's. I think she was worried one of us would see him. The kids said a couple of times that they saw her walking around carrying a tray and she shouted at them a couple of times."
He added: "I saw the Darwins a few times. They were just like any normal couple, maybe a bit quiet and my dad was happy there, he was gutted when he had to leave.
"Now things are just getting stranger by the second."
His partner Amanda said: "The house was full of nooks and crannies and there was rooms everywhere. He could have easily hid in there."
