OPPORTUNIST thieves stole a car when its driver went to collect a takeaway – only to discover a five-year-old girl asleep on the back seat, in December 2011.

Her horrified father rang police and after a frantic ten minute search, the vehicle was found abandoned two streets away, with the oblivious youngster unharmed and still fast asleep.

The man had left the keys in the ignition of his red Skoda Fabia when he parked outside the Royal Chef Chinese takeaway, in Manor Road, St Helen Auckland, near Bishop Auckland, County Durham.

Police said while he was inside, three youths were spotted getting into the vehicle and driving away shortly after 10pm on Friday.

The car was found a short distance away in Byland Close about ten minutes later. The young girl was still sitting on the back seat, apparently having slept though the whole incident.

Also this week 10 years ago, cittle more than a year after passengers were hit with a £6 charge to save Durham Tees Valley (DTV) airport, a search was launched to find a buyer for the beleaguered site.

Politicians and business leaders were united in their determination to save the airport, in December 2011, which reported a £1.6m loss in its last accounts.

Stockton North's MP Alex Cunningham expressed doubt that there will be a "long queue of people" wanting to buy the airport.

Airport director Steve Gill said the airport would be sold as a going concern to companies wanting to run it as an airport, rather than to developers only interested in the land.

X Factor winners Little Mix were greeted by adoring fans in the North East on December 15, 2011, when they signed copies of their debut single, Cannonball, which they hoped would be the Christmas number one.

Crowds gathered at HMV, in South Shields, home to two of the four-piece band, Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirlwall. They were accompanied by bandmates Jesy Nelson, 20, from Essex, and Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 19, from London.

Endurance athlete Sharon Gayter was attempting to beat the men's world record for long distance running on a treadmill over seven days in December 2011.

Gayter hoped to surpass the 468.04 miles that Lee Chamberlain managed in July 2009.