POLICE are trying to trace the wife of a clown after she performed a disappearing act from a circus in the North-East.

They are appealing to 26-year-old Martho Martinez to contact them following her disappearance from Uncle Sam's Travelling Circus on September 17.

The Colombian wife and assistant of circus clown Ramon took a taxi from the circus with the couple's four-year-old son, Ashley, and has not been seen since.

The circus was based in the County Durham areas of Stanley and Chester-le-Street when Mrs Martinez vanished.

Durham Police said they had received a telephone call from a woman claiming to be her but who ignored their requests to go to the nearest police station.

They are now appealing for taxi drivers to help them track her down.

A police spokesman said: "Her role was to assist her husband during his act.

"If there are any taxi drivers that remember going to the circus to collect a fare on that day, we would ask them to contact us."

Mrs Martinez is described as 5ft tall, with shoulder-length hair and a dark complexion.

The spokesman said: "While we have no reason to believe she or her son may have come to any harm, we do need to speak to her to check she is safe and well.

"We would ask her, wherever she is, to go to her nearest police station."