FIVE years ago this week, police were hunting a knife attacker after a man in his 30s died following a savage street assault.

The victim suffered multiple stab wounds to his chest and stomach after being attacked in broad daylight in the village of Kelloe, near Durham City.

Paramedics took the injured man to The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, where he died a short time later.

Officers were called to Front Street shortly before 2pm, after reports that a local man had been attacked.

They swamped the former pit village and told residents to stay indoors as they looked for the suspect.

A large section of the centre of Kelloe was cordoned off as forensic experts spent several hours searching the street where the attack took place.

Witnesses said armed officers, backed by the force helicopter, carried out a search of the village looking for the attacker who fled the scene.

It is understood they raided at least one property in the area looking for the fugitive.

The stabbing happened in front Street, close to Bombshells Hair and Beauty.

Builder Stewart Reid, who was laying flagstones nearby when the attack started, said: “I didn’t see what happened, because my head was down working.

“But I looked up and saw the lad lying in the middle of the road. “Everybody rushed out of the hairdressers to help him.”

Two days later, The Northern Echo reported that a teen had been arrested on suspicion of murder after a 48-hour manhunt.

The victim, Dale Arnold, died in hospital in Middlesbrough.

The 19-year-old man was arrested at a property in Ushaw Moor, around 12 miles away from Kelloe.

Elsewhere that week, North Yorkshire was cementing its reputation as one of the most popular film locations outside London after seeing a procession of movie and TV stars making the most of its heritage.

In recent days, the former Northallerton Prison, the oldest jail in the country when it closed in 2014, has seen two days of filming for Dark River, a Film4-backed movie adaptation of starring Sean Bean and Star Wars actor Mark Stanley, as well as three days of filming for flagship ITV murder mystery Vera.

While shooting an episode of Vera, the show’s Academy Award-winning star, Brenda Blethyn, stayed at Allerton Court Hotel nearby, alongside the cast and crew of The Moonstone, which is being shot for the BBC at Thornton Watlass Hall, near Bedale, and features Cold Feet actor John Thomson.

Finally, a pesky peacock had been ruffling feathers in a North Yorkshire village after residents have complained about being terrorised and their cars vandalised.

Peter the Peacock was a well-known character in Bilton village in the outskirts of Harrogate – but after a spate of attacks on cars, leading to costly respray jobs, a group of residents have clubbed together to raise £500 to send Peter away to a sanctuary in Scotland.