TWO men will appear in court today accused of break-ins which targeted university computer equipment.

The pair, from London, were arrested by Durham detectives working with Metropolitan Police in the capital on Friday.

They were brought North over the weekend and were yesterday charged with burglary at Durham University's science complex.

A 42-year-old man from Woolwich, is charged with a break-in on December 17, while the other, a 20-year-old from the Jamaica Inn area of London, is alleged to have burgled the Stockton Road site, in Durham, on December 22.

Both will appear before North Durham magistrates, in Peterlee, today.

Circuit boards were removed from a computer at the science complex in one raid over the Christmas period.

The cost of replacing the stolen items and repairing the equipment, used for storing complex research data, was put at more than £1m.