FIVE men accused after a confrontation following a fire at a village store had the charges against them dropped yesterday.

The men had been accused of chasing and attacking a 20-year-old local man following a fire on a stairwell leading from a flat above the Food Store, in Front Street, Perkinsville, near Chester-le-Street.

They were said to have accused the man of responsibility for the fire and claimed they were attempting a citizen's arrest, before police stepped at the incident, last July.

Store owner Mohammad Khaliq, 55, Yasser Khaliq, 23, both of the Village Farmhouse, Birtley Lane, Chester-le-Street, Mohammad Khaliq junior, 26, Khalid Mahood, 27, both of Morris Street, and Ishfaq Hussain, 24, of New South Terrace, all Birtley, near Chester-le-Street, had previously denied affray.

Yasser Khaliq was also charged with assault causing actual bodily harm and Mohammad Khaliq senior, was also accused of making a threat to kill the 20-year-old man.

They appeared at Durham Crown Court yesterday for a trial.

But at the opening of the case Euan Duff, prosecuting, told the court: "There is a history to this. Given difficulties faced by the Crown, the proper course at this stage is simply to take no action against these men, and to offer no evidence."

Judge Roger Scott recorded formal not guilty verdicts.