POLICE have been asked to step into a growing election row after hundreds of Liberal Democrat posters were apparently torn down and stolen.

The party has asked the police to investigate after claiming that 400 posters, on supporters' property across the City of Durham constituency, had disappeared.

In some cases, they say, the posters had been replaced three times only for the boards to be stolen again within a matter of hours.

Liberal Democrat candidate Councillor Carol Woods said: "The systematic way in which our roadside posters are being stolen, night after night, shows that this is more than just casual acts of vandalism. It is organised theft.

"I am disappointed that our opponents have already stooped to these underhand tactics. We are doing our best to run a positive campaign - it is just a shame that others haven't got the decency to do the same."

However, the implication that the disappearance of the boards may be part of a political dirty tricks campaign has been emphatically denied by Labour.

Candidate Roberta Blackman-Woods said: "For the Lib Dem candidate to imply that the Labour Party is involved in any way in such underhand, and in fact criminal, methods is beneath even her.

"I am fighting the campaign on Labour's record here in Durham, and nationally, and what Labour can do for Durham in the future. We don't need, and would not use, anti-democratic and criminal tactics.

"The allegation by the Lib Dems is very silly, they really should have better things to spend their time on."

The Labour Party insisted that one of its supporters had discovered a pile of opponents' stolen posters dumped in his garden, which were immediately returned.

Tory candidate Ben Rogers said he was disappointed the campaign was "degenerating into a farcical squabble over poster stakes instead of debating matters of real importance to the voters".

Police have confirmed they are investigating the allegations, which centre on the villages of Sherburn, Pittington, Brandon and Shincliffe.

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