Valuable fish were stolen and left to die after being dumped in a plastic bag.

Police are appealing for information after the three koi carp were taken from a pond in the back garden of a home in Chibburn Court, Widdrington Station.

The theft took place between midnight on Friday, January 1, and 10am on Saturday, January 2. The fish were eventually found a short distance away in a plastic bag.

Anyone with information about the theft should contact Morpeth Police on 03456 043043 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

It's not often that people welcome the sight of graffiti in their neighbourhoods. But that was exactly the case in one community - until well-meaning officials wiped out a much-loved piece of urban art.

A 6ft mural of the 1970s comic book character Cerebus the Aardvark had brightened up a bridge near Blyth for nearly three decades until its disappearance last weekend.

Despite its popularity, Northumberland County Council blitzed the colourful design as part of a crackdown on graffiti.

Wildlife Minister Huw Irranca Davies has accepted a petition signed by more than 200,000 people demanding an end to the killing of birds of prey.

The petition is the largest ever collected by the RSPB.

According to the RSPB's most recent annual Birdcrime report, published last August, Northumberland is the third worst county in England for illegal persecution against birds of prey.

A popular guide aimed at helping older people in Northumberland get the most out of life has been published for the fourth time.

Previous issues of the Golden Guide have gone down so well with the over-50s that there was a waiting list for the latest 5,000-copy print run.

The free booklet, which is produced by community information specialists Clever Clogs Publishing in partnership with Age Concern Northumberland, the county council and care trust, has also been given a new design.

A pub's punters raised much-needed cash for the nation's heroes with a charity gig.

The Trap Inn, in Broomhill near Widdrington, held a rockamarathon, with three local bands playing free of charge.

Picture by Carl Angus from Amble

The Range, Life Crisis and Nightrain took to the stage to raise money for Help For Heroes, which supports servicemen and women who have been injured in conflicts.

A £2bn bid to take greenhouse gases from some of the North East's worst polluters and store them under the North Sea has been announced.

The region's case for carbon capture and storage (CCS) would see pipelines from Teesside and the Alcan factory in Lynemouth link together and store CO2 under the sea.

Across the region some 26,000 jobs are dependant on energy companies meeting strict Government targets on carbon emissions.

People who live or work in a cluster of Northumberland communities are being urged to get involved in a new grass-roots organisation which will help shape the area's future.

A community forum for Widdrington and its surrounding villages will meet next week to start identifying and tackling local problems and concerns.

The meeting - at 6pm on February 12 in Hadston community centre - will take the form of an information and discussion session.

A veteran Labour MP has accused council bosses in Northumberland of seeking the easy way out by targeting elderly and disabled people when making tough budget cuts.

Blyth Valley MP Ronnie Campbell is writing to Liberal Democrat leaders at County Hall and asking them to "stop hitting" the elderly population of the county.

He says the recent announcement the council is axing a scheme which provides cut-price taxi travel for hundreds of pensioners who are unable to use buses is the latest in a damaging series of cost-cutting measures affecting older people.

Northumberland County Council will not have to make a further £11m in "horrendous" budget cuts, the Government has said.

It was feared that around £30m worth of savings would be required to balance next year's budget but the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) has allowed councillors to pay for some costs from the capital budget.

The authority had submitted four bids for capitalisation in respect of potential losses on Icelandic investments of £9.1m, for £6m in strain on the pension fund, £2.8m for enhanced redundancy and £1.4m for statutory redundancy.

A project has been launched to find out if the waters off the Northumberland coast are a secret dolphin stronghold.

The white-beaked dolphin is a little studied species which occurs around the coast of the UK and is vulnerable to the effects of global warming.

It lives in the cold waters of the northern Atlantic and its available habitat is thought to be shrinking.