THE former possessions of a 1960s fruit machine king are to be auctioned this week.

Vince Landa, whose brother Michael Luvaglio was convicted of the infamous 1967 one-armed bandit murder of Angus Sibbett, had left his furniture in two containers for over a decade at Ingram's of Bishop Auckland.

The containers were finally opened by the storage company this month after Mr Landa, who is in ill health and living in the south of England, gave his permission to sell the items.

In 1997 Mr Landa arranged for the furniture to be picked up by Ingram's from a house in Sunderland. He paid the monthly storage rental for a short time before disappearing, owing Ingram's thousands of pounds.

The company have since written off the debt but will use the profits from the sale of his furniture to go towards repaying some of money.

In the containers were a Victorian carved mahogany breakfront wardrobe, a Victorian oak dining table, a Victorian mahogany chest and other modern items.

Mr Landa was a Cockney who moved to the North-East to run a fruit machine empire when the Government made one-armed bandits legal.

Luvaglio was working for his brother when he and his colleague, Dennis Stafford, shot Sibbett in South Hetton.

They were found guilty of murder but have always protested their innocence.

The sale will be held on Tuesday, February 20 at Thomas Watson Auctioneers.

The sale is on view tomorrow from 9am until 5pm.

For further details, call 01325-462559 or visit www.thomaswatson.com