USHER the Bassett hound has been banned from sitting on a cushion in a village pub - in case he upsets its deceased owner.

The dog, and new landlord Gavin Turnbull, only recently moved into The Three Tuns pub, at Sadberge, near Darlington.

Usher immediately decided to make himself at home and jumped on a cushion in the corner of the pub.

But what he didn't know was the cushion used to belong to a woman called Nancy, who died some years ago.

Regular had warned Mr Turnbull not to move the cushion for fear of upsetting Nancy, but when Usher sat on it, the pub was immediately plunged into darkness.

Northern Electric workers restored the power, but they were unable to identify the source of the problem.

Hours later, Usher leapt on to the cushion again, causing another power cut.

Mr Turnbull said: "There is something weird about the cushion and Usher is definitely being kept off it from now on - just in case.