A NORTH-EAST council official has been questioned over the alleged theft of thousands of pounds.

Spennymoor Town Council clerk Terry Robson, whose disappearance from his County Durham home sparked a huge search, was arrested in Edinburgh on suspicion of theft on August 8, eight weeks after he vanished.

Detectives had been unable to question the 55-year-old over allegations that more than £20,000 was missing from a trust fund, set up in 1988 when Mr Robson had his own solicitor's firm, because of his mental state.

The father-of-two, from Kirk Merrington, admitted himself to a secure mental health unit at Darlington Memorial Hospital and was said to be suffering from depression. But last Thursday, doctors and psychologists gave police the go-ahead to interview him and he was taken to Newton Aycliffe police station to be questioned.

He has since been released on police bail pending further inquiries and has returned to the hospital unit.