A JAMES BROWN doll made famous by Teesside-born TV star Jeff Stelling is back up for auction.

The dancing doll, which appeared regularly on Sky Sports show Soccer Saturday, attracted bids of more than £150,000 when it was originally placed on ebay by Hartlepool Council’s chairman, Councillor Stephen Akers-Belcher last month.

He had been given the doll by Stelling in a bid to raise funds for seven local charities he has been supporting but the initial auction was derailed after a series of exceedingly high bids proved to be false. The famous doll is now back on ebay at a ‘buy it now’ price of £1,500.

Coun Akers-Belcher criticised the false bidders, saying that good causes could lose out due to their “stupidity”. He added: “I am really disappointed that the bidding process was sabotaged and the result is that very worthy local young people’s charities are going to lose out financially.

“The highest bidder informed us of having no knowledge of making a bid and we then had to work our way down the list to see if people were still interested.

“It would appear that there was a genuine bid of £6,000 but when we made contact he said he had since donated his money to other good causes.”

The councillor said Jeff Stelling was similarly frustrated at the auction being “hijacked by pranksters” and said that the ‘buy it now’ style auction would help to deter future sabotage.

The doll will remain on ebay until Thursday, December 20 unless a buyer snaps it up before then.