POLICE are searching for a Burnley shopkeeper following the collapse of a conspiracy trial which has cost the taxpayer hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Off-licence assistant Saghir Ahmed, who claims he lost more than £80,000 in the alleged scam, failed to turn up at Burnley Crown Court for the trial of Eric Feyou and Bruno Pankui.

Both men were cleared of a charge of conspiracy to steal by Judge Beverly Lunt after Mr Ahmed, a key witness in the case, failed to appear on Monday.

A team of detectives are now hunting the shop assistant, who is believed to be in the south of England, and today senior officers spoke of their disappointment at the collapse of the case.

The cost of the police probe and subsequent aborted trial a trial costs £8,000 per day are thought to run into hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Det Insp Derek Jones, who led the investigation, said: "We are very disappointed that the case has had to be discontinued after a lot of time, effort and because of factors outside the investigation.

"We are now looking for Mr Ahmed and a summons has been issued for him by the court."

The summons was issued by the judge for Mr Ahmed to explain his non-appearance to the court.

Eric Feyou, 32 and Bruno Pankui, 35, both from London, had faced trial earlier this year accused of playing parts in the alleged money con but the jury was discharged.

A new trial had been due to start this week but prosecutor Mark Lamberty offered no evidence when Mr Ahmed failed to appear.

Feyou and Pankui had denied conspiracy to steal, between January 1 and March 22, last year.

A jury had previously been told that Mr Ahmed claimed he was conned out of £84,000 by two men who convinced him they had perfected a scientific way of making counterfeit cash.

The alleged scam, which was said to have been capable of making £1million a day, was alleged to have involved powder, liquid, tin foil, ultraviolet lighting and a man standing on the notes for 10 minutes and flattening the money with an iron.

Mr Ahmed had alleged he handed over £42,000 after being shown the chemical process in a Travelodge room at Burnley's Gannow Top.

The alleged victim, who told the court he had been approached at his brother's shop in Daneshouse Road, Burnley, claimed he later parted with another £42,000.

He had claimed when he was asked for more money he grew suspicious and decided to go to the police.

Mr Ahmed was said to have had three bank cards, and to have had several accounts, including an American Express card, when interviewed by police even though he claimed he was on just £200-a-week benefits.

The court had been told the defendants were later arrested in a police sting at the hotel, after an undercover officer introduced himself as a property developer and was allegedly shown the process.

Feyou was said to have been wearing a white coat and both defendants had put on latex gloves, the jury had been told.

Mr Lamberty had alleged before February 27 last year, the two defendants, maybe with others, had hatched a plot to steal substantial sums of money by defrauding gullible victims.

The prosecutor had claimed Feyou and Pankui came to Burnley "with a whole cartload of equipment" to con whoever was in front of them out of cash.

However, the two men claimed no part in the alleged scheme or to have ever met Mr Ahmed.