A WARRANT has been issued for the arrest of a man accused of breaking into a safe at a high street card shop.

It follows Andrew Fletcher Pickering’s failure to appear at Durham Crown Court on the day of his scheduled trial, facing a charge of burglary. The 43-year-old defendant, of Marx Crescent, Stanley, is alleged to have stolen money and stamps from the safe at Clinton’s Cards, in Bishop Auckland, in an overnight break-in between February 19 and 20, last year.

Entry was said to have been gained after a wheelie bin was used enable the intruder to climb over a wall and force their way into the premises, in Newgate Street. Evidence at the trial was to have centred on a disputed DNA match obtained from a torn sock recovered from the shop floor, after the break-in.

Although there was a belief the defendant may have been in hospital, checks with local health facilities failed to confirm the suggestion. In the absence of any other explanation for his absence, Judge Christopher Prince agreed to a prosecution application to issue a bench warrant for his arrest.

The court heard that as there was no available judge to preside over the scheduled trial it would not have proceeded, even if the accused had been present, although he would not have known that when granted bail, in January.