THE mystery of what happened to a statue at a County Durham country park has deepened.

The statue of Neptune disappeared from a plinth in the Serpentine Lake, at Hardwick Hall, Sedgefield, about 50 years ago.

One theory was that it had fallen into the lake, but a week-long underwater search by members of 38 Engineer Regiment at Ripon found no trace of it.

Tony Smith, countryside business manager for Durham County Council, said: "We've drawn a blank - but that only means we are on to the next stage of trying to discover what happened to the statue.

"The Army did a fingertip search of the lake bottom and all they found was a clay pigeon and a bicycle wheel. On the island, a metal search turned up a piece of lead, so it is clear the statue was cut off at some time in the past."

The search for Neptune will now focus in another direction.

Mr Smith said: "It appears that the Army took it off the island in about 1951. The story is that it was taken off for the commanding officer to put in his garden somewhere in the South.

"I'm going to go through Army records and find out who the officers were between about 1945 and 1953 and see if we can locate where their homes were."

Another line of inquiry could come from a woman who said she had seen it in a garden in Jersey.

Durham County Council would like to hear from her again and are appealing for her to contact the press office on 0191-386 4411.