DETECTIVES investigating the death of a man more than a year after he was injured in a pub fracas, arrested five people yesterday.

Kevin Pharoah, 49, of Leam Lane, Gateshead, died in October after an epileptic fit.

He had developed epilepsy after a disturbance at the Fret and Fiddler pub, in Sunniside, near Gateshead, in January 2000.

Five people from Sunniside and nearby Whickham have been arrested on suspicion of being involved in assault and violent disorder, and are being questioned