A SUSPECT in the kidnap of a North-East businessman has been cleared after a six-week investigation.

Police questioned the 42-year-old man and released him on bail while they carried out further inquiries into Tony Pattison's hostage ordeal in early March.

The suspect was arrested in a van with tens of thousands of pounds shortly after a substantial ransom was paid for Mr Pattison's safe return.

But police last night confirmed that the Hartlepool man had been released unconditionally and said the investigation was still very active after more than a month without a breakthrough.

Married businessman Mr Pattison, 45, from Hartlepool, was snatched at gunpoint from his car, while parked at Seaton Carew seafront, and bundled into a van by a gang of men on Monday, March 8.

Then in a series of phone calls, they made a number of demands to Mr Pattison's brother - threatening to kill their captive unless a ransom was paid.

The gang, believed to be from Wearside, held Mr Pattison overnight in a building before driving him around for much of the next day.

On the Tuesday night, he was dumped in a shed at the end of a dirt track near the Samsung factory at Wynyard, on the outskirts of Hartlepool, and the money was collected.

Ninety minutes after Mr Pattison was freed, a Ford Transit van containing a substantial amount of money was stopped in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, and the driver arrested.

A Cleveland Police spokesman said last night: "The man who had been on police bail in connection with the kidnap of Hartlepool businessman Tony Pattison has been released unconditionally.

"However, this is still a very active investigation and our inquiries into the incident are ongoing, and officers are continuing to follow up a number of lines of inquiry."