A JUDGE has called for proof that a top North-East lawyer facing assault charges is dead.

Flamboyant Barry Stewart, formerly Teesside's senior criminal barrister, jumped bail earlier this year and moved abroad to a luxury villa in northern Cyprus.

It was reported last month that he had died after developing breast cancer.

But yesterday, District Judge James Prowse, who had already issued a warrant for his arrest, called for legal proof of the death.

Mr Stewart, 58, who drove a Rolls-Royce and was the head of his own chambers in Middlesbrough before his arrest, failed to turn up 17 times at Teesside Magistrates' Court.

He had been facing three charges of assaulting Andrew James Walker by beating, and a similar offence against Adrian Cromwell in Middlesbrough in October and November 1998.

News of Mr Stewart's death was relayed to England by his partner, Peter, who nursed him through his illness.

At that time, tributes were paid at Teesside Crown Court by judges, barristers and the Law Society.

Judge Peter Fox QC, the senior Teesside judge, said Mr Stewart had faced his painful illness with a "rare combination of good humour and determination".

He also said that "Barry" had written to him earlier saying he had bought a burial plot in the British Cemetery at Kyrenia, Cyprus.

Mr Stewart, formerly of Ridge Hall, Staithes, North Yorkshire, was the subject of allegations three years ago that he spanked pupil barristers who made mistakes.

The News of The World said that complaints had been lodged with Cleveland Police by former colleagues at his chambers.

He claimed at the time that he had been "stabbed in the back" by people who owed their careers to him. He had done nothing wrong and had been made the subject of rumour and innuendo.

Last night, a spokesman for Cleveland Police said they were monitoring developments. The Foreign Office said it had no record of Mr Stewart's death.