Boys aged 12 and 15 arrested after village in County Durham barn fire

Two boys aged 12 and 15 were arrested on suspicion of arson after a barn fire at Staindrop, County Durham.

Suspects had been seen fleeing the scene of the blaze last Friday afternoon, and police call handlers messaged the Teesdale Rural Watch Whatsapp group, alerting hundreds of volunteers to the incident.

The force drone was also deployed and was able to follow the suspects' thanks to the real-time intelligence coming in from Rural Watch members.

A handful of messages later and two young suspects were detained by officers in fields near Wackerfield, all within 37 minutes from the first 999 call. They were taken into custody and interviewed.