Thursday 30th December 2010 Thieves damage cathedral door knocker
Thieves damaged a bronze door knocker during an attempted raid at
Durham Cathedral. The raiders tried to prise the ornament off the
cathedral’s sanctuary door after scaling a fence. The knocker is a
replica of the 12th Century original and represents a lion-like
creature. Ironically, the knocker used to allow criminals to knock at
the Cathedral to ask for sanctuary. Pc Chris Milburn, of Durham
Police, said: "We're treating this as an attempted theft of a valuable
object which has adorned the door of this World Heritage Site for over
30 years. We are appealing for anyone who has information about this
incident to contact us as soon as possible." County Durham

Wednesday 30th September 2009 POW camp buy it now opportunity
The popular internet auction site Ebay has had a long list of odd items auctioned during its more than ten years on the Internet. However, a POW camp recently listed must be among the more unusual of them all. Harperley camp, near Crook in County Durham is currently up for sale at £900,000.

The site has had a considerable amount of cash spent on it in an attempt to make a tourist attraction of the former WWII prisoner of war camp. A garden, restaurant and museum are already in place but the current owners say they have been forced into the sale as they re no longer able to raise further capital to complete the project. County Durham

Friday 21st August 2009 Live grenade discovered at church jumble sale
Visitors to a church jumble sale at the Woodhouse Close Church in
Bishop Auckland almost got more than they were prepared to bargain for
after someone donated a live hand grenade. The vicar alerted the
police and army bomb disposal evacuated the church and cordoned off
the streets before carrying out a controlled detonation.

Police are now anxious to trace the former owner of the grenade who
they say probably had no idea there was a live grenade inside the box
of bits they donated. County Durham

Thursday 16th July 2009 Monkeys recovered after second arrest
The theft of two rare monkeys from a County Durham farm has lead to a second arrest and the return of both monkeys. A 44 year-old man was detained under the Mental Health Act and charged with handling stolen goods. A woman aged 21 was also arrested and bailed pending further inquiries.

The monkeys disappeared from Tweddle Animal Farm, Blackhall Colliery on 22 June. There are probably only 10 of the rare Goeldi’s monkeys in the UK and the pair involved in the theft were originally donated to the farm in the hope they would breed there. County Durham