AFTER a six-year mousehunt and a four-day courtroom battle, a rare pearl-encrusted rodent, which experts from a North-East museum believed was its stolen star exhibit, is back in police custody.

Now Bowes Museum, near Barnard Castle, could face an expensive legal fight over the tiny treasure, made in Switzerland 200 years ago, and said to be worth £90,000. Detectives investigating the theft of the exquisitely crafted mechanical mouse from Bowes Museum in April 1994 had charged antique dealer Kenneth Markworth, from near Lewes, Sussex, with handling stolen goods.

But the case collapsed after a judge in Luton Crown Court ordered the jury to return a not guilty verdict.

Judge John Slack listened to the conflicting opinions from procession of prosecution experts before ruling that the evidence against him was "thoroughly unsatisfactory".

The mouse was brought back to the North-East by detectives from Bishop Auckland, who intend to apply to magistrates under the Police Property Act to hold it until its ownership is determined, probably in a civil case where the burden of proof is lighter than in a criminal trial.

Meanwhile, one of the mouse's tiny paws broke off when it was dropped on a table in court.

The cost of what will probably be an expensive repair could plunge it into another legal minefield.