A passing cyclist may have chatted to a thief as he dragged a trolley packed with money stolen moments earlier in a nightclub robbery through the streets of a North-East city.

Detectives investigating the raid at the dh1 nightclub in Durham City say they have now studied CCTV footage of the incident which appears to show a cyclist stopping to talk to the robber as he hauled at least £30,000 along North Road.

Officers are now asking the cyclist to come forward as a matter of urgency as he may hold vital information which could help the inquiry. A man and a woman arrested in early morning raids in the Framwellgate Moor area of the city on Tuesday were last night released on police bail pending further inquiries.

The robbery took place in the early hours of Monday morning when the club manager, a man in his mid 20s, was confronted as he returned to his house in Hopper Terrace, Trimdon Grange at around 1.30am. He was threatened by a man who the assailant believed was carrying a gun and was tied up and left for eight hours.

In the meantime, the intruder took the keys to the club and his 3-series BMW - which has yet to be recovered. At around 5am, the car was caught on camera dropping off a man in North Road, before leaving onto Neville Street.

Around 40 minutes later, the same figure was seen pulling a trolley loaded with money from the club and up North Road.

As he did so, a cyclist pushing a bike up the road overtook him and appeared to speak briefly to the suspect before continuing on his way.

Detective Inspector Eric Malkin, the officer leading the investigation, said; "We would ask that cyclist to come forward as a matter of urgency.

We know there were other people in the North Road area at the same time and we would like to speak to them. "It is also possible the thief may have been seen when he turned off North Road into Neville Street."

Officers are also keen to speak to anyone who may have seen someone behaving suspiciously near the house in Trimdon Grange on Sunday into Monday morning.

Anyone with any information is asked to ring police on 0845 60 60 365 or anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.