FIVE years ago this week, people in the North-East protested against the so-called bedroom tax.

Silent vigils were organised in Durham City while, on Teesside, tenants and housing association bosses held a summit to campaign against the measure, which was due to come into effect April of that year.

The so-called bedroom tax was a reduction in the amount of housing benefit paid to a claimant if their property was judged to have more bedrooms than necessary.

Bishop Auckland MP, Helen Goodman, spent the week living on a budget of under £18 to demonstrate the conditions of people that would be affected.

Ms Goodman said: "My first thought, having been to two low-price supermarkets, is that I am never going to manage to do it. I fear I may run out of money.

"I will definitely not eat as I normally do and I definitely won't have a healthy diet – five fruit and vegetables a day is out of the question.”

Among those affected was grandmother Maureen Hagan from Grangetown, near Middlesbrough.

Mrs Hagan, living with her 17-year-old daughter, moved into a three-bedroomed property in the hope of gaining custody of her 14-year-old grandson.

However, Mrs Hagan potentially had to pay £15 extra a week to provide the bedroom for him due to the penalty.

She said: "I want that bedroom for my grandson. He wants to come home to his family. I have had sleepless nights over this and I do not know what is going to happen."

Also that week, stars flooded into the Sage, Gateshead, for a charity event on what would have been Sir Bobby Robson’s 80th birthday, planned by him before his death.

Unseen interviews with Sir Bobby were screened, including a message he had specifically recorded for the night's event.

His son, Mark Robson, said: "This was dad's proudest years, he was a proud Englishman.

"It brings back great memories, especially seeing the television footage of him in that jacket with the Three Lions badge."

Among the stars paying tribute to was Spurs manager Andre Villas Boas, musician Mark Knopfler, England U-21 coach Stuart Pearce and Newcastle manager Alan Pardew.

Meanwhile, the letters of notorious North-East murderer, Mary Ann Cotton, were prepared for auction.

Mary Ann Cotton, of West Auckland, was hanged on March 24, 1873, at Durham Gaol for the murder of her seven-year-old stepson, Charles.

It is also thought she murdered to 22 of her children, husbands and lovers and even her own mother.

The letters, addressed to William Lowrey, describe her time in prison before she was hanged.

Paul Hughes of Tennants auctioneers in Leyburn, where the auction was held, said: "When the letters start in July 1872, she was quite literate, and her handwriting is quite strong, but as she becomes more and more desperate, her grammar, spelling and handwriting all start to go, and by February 1873, she was really struggling."