MAN CHARGED: Police have charged a 22-year-old with shoplifting and assault after a number of items were taken from a store in Darlington.

The man kicked a member of staff as he left the shop before dropping the items and running off.

He then returned to the store and stole a small amount of confectionary before being arrested.

CRIME PREVENTION: A winter roadshow takes place in Asda, in Whinbush Way, on Friday, December 21, for members of the public to meet neighbourhood police teams and crackdown on crime in their area.

The event starts at 1pm.

WARD SURGERY: Councillors Paul Harman, Cyndi Hughes and Joe Lyonette, ward members for Park East, hold a surgery in the Coleridge Centre, in Ribble Drive, on Friday, December 21, from 6pm until 7pm.

POLICE ARRESTS: A 27-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman have been arrested on suspicion of shoplifting after vodka and whiskey were stolen from a shop in Darlington.

A 38-year-old man has also been charged with shoplifting in Darlington town centre.