Beamish Museum: Durham Police probe 'serious financial incident'

Beamish Museum is a popular visitor attraction featuring streets, buildings and transport showing the history of North East England

Police have confirmed they are examining financial concerns at a popular County Durham museum.

Beamish Museum said it had reported a "serious incident" to the Charity Commission and Durham Police, but could not comment further.

The open-air museum said its day-to-day running would not be affected.

A Durham Police spokeswoman said: "We have received some information from Beamish Museum and are currently examining it."

A spokeswoman for the museum, near Stanley, said: "We continue to prepare to reopen when deemed appropriate by the government in line with its Covid-19 guidance.

"We look forward to welcoming visitors back to Beamish very soon."

'Financial concerns'

The spokeswoman said: "The board, in line with their duties as trustees of the museum, did report a serious incident to the Charity Commission and the police.

"The Charity Commission has concluded its correspondence with the museum.

"However, as this matter is subject to investigation by the police, we cannot comment further on the nature of the incident."

Museum director Richard Evans resigned in May.

He had been director since July 2008 and the spokeswoman said the board thanked him for his "contribution to the museum's success".

The Charity Commission said the museum submitted a "serious incident report in relation the financial concerns".

"We have engaged with the trustees to assess their handling of the matter," a spokeswoman said, adding: "We are continuing to monitor the charity's next steps and cannot comment further at this time."