A MAN is in due in court this afternoon charged in connection with a £2m antiques heist from a North-East museum.

Lee Wildman, 35, was re-arrested yesterday following the break-in at Durham’s Oriental Museum last month.

Burglars smashed a hole in the wall of a gallery and made off with two valuable artefacts from the Qing Dynasty, a solid jade bowl and an elaborate porcelain figurine.

Mr Wildman is due to appear before Peterlee Magistrates Court charged with conspiracy to commit burglary.

He was arrested in the West Midlands along with 32-year-old Adrian Stanton and two women, aged 27 and 19, who were present at the same premises.

The other three are in custody at Durham police office and will be interviewed later today.

Police publicly named both men as suspects after the raid on April 5.

Eight days later the artefacts were recovered by police from a field in Brandon, on the outskirts of Durham City.

Four men, including Mr Wildman, and one woman, all from the West Midlands, were arrested days after the offence, but he was granted bail.

One of the men, aged 27 has since been released with no further action but the other two men and the woman are on police bail until early June.

Police have also named a third man they wish to trace in connection with the burglary at the museum.

On last night’s BBC Crimewatch programme the photo of 31-year-old Justin Oliver Clarke was shown to viewers along with an appeal for information on his whereabouts.

Clarke’s last known address was in the Brownhills area of Walsall.

Crimewatch also featured an appeal for information on the break-in at Cambridge University’s Fitzwilliam Museum on April 13 which led to the theft of various Chinese antiques dating back to the 14th century.

These have not yet been recovered and while no formal link has been made between the two burglaries, police are keeping an open mind.

Anyone who can help either ongoing investigation is urged to ring the non-emergency number 101, or the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800-555-111.