CUSTOMS chiefs fired a stern warning to organised crime gangs last night after smashing audacious bids to smuggle more than 750,000 cigarettes through North-East airports. A series of dramatic swoops by anti-smuggling officers culminated at Teesside Airport
POLICE blocked the entrance to a town centre car park last night to stop Sunday night car 'cruises' - which have led to illegal racing on public roads. Dozens of drivers regularly congregate in the North Bondgate car park, in Bishop Auckland, County Durham
AN investigation was continuing today into the cause of a fire which claimed the lives of a mother and her three-year-old daughter. The victims, who have not yet been formally identified, are believed to have been living with members of a peace collective
SUPPORTERS of fox hunting are being urged to infiltrate local Labour parties in the region in a last-gasp bid to save the bloodsport. A new organisation, called the 'Rural Army', has set up a website to persuade activists to take out constituency membership
MORE than 40 firefighters spent Sunday afternoon tackling a major warehouse blaze in the heart of a busy shopping area. Thick black smoke billowed 150 feet up into the air from Portrack Workshops on North Tees Industrial Estate in Stockton and could be
QUICK-thinking police commandeered a golf buggy in their pursuit of a drunken man who took an angler hostage, holding a pair of scissors to his throat. Officers chasing the man across Riverside Park in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, called for back-up
