IT could hardly be more embarrassing - former tough detective Ray Mallon has had his £60,000 mayoral chains of office pinched from under his nose.

Mr Mallon, the man who pioneered zero tolerance policing, was attending a function as Middlesbrough Mayor at the town hall.

And last night as Mr Mallon appealed for their return, one expert said they could already have been spirited out of the area.

The nine-carat gold chains were taken from a room in the town hall during a ceremony to install the new chairman of Middlesbrough Council on Wednesday.

After Mr Mallon posed for a picture, he handed the chains to a colleague, who left them in a robing room.

When someone returned for the chains, they had vanished. Police fear the chains may be melted down, and yesterday a jeweller said they would probably be taken outside the region to a gold dealer.

The scrap value of the chains would be about £800 but the replacement value is about £60,000.

"I can't see anyone round here wanting to buy them," said Colin Goodchild, of Goldfactors on Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough. "They will most likely be melted down."

Mayor Mallon, who has only worn the chains once before, at last year's Remembrance Day parade, said: "The chains are part of the area's heritage and I would appeal for anyone with information to come forward to help the police."

Middlesbrough Council received the chains when the authority was formed in 1996. They had previously been used as the chairman of Cleveland County Council's chains of office and were specially made when the local authority was formed in 1974.

A spokesman for Middlesbrough Council said "It is not their monetary value but their importance to the civic history of the town and the area as a whole."

The chain is made up of 30 kite-shaped links and anyone with information should call Cleveland Police on (01642) 303 126.