Police have apologised to the family of a man who was wrongly arrested for murdering his own son, but who died just days before seeing the real killer jailed.

Freddie Stacey, 66, spent 16 weeks on remand in Durham jail in 2004 after being wrongly accused of beating his son, Scott Pritchard to death.

The real killer, women's football coach, Karen Tunmore, 36, was finally brought to justice earlier this month when she admitted attacking Mr Pritchard with a baseball bat over a minor debt.

Tragically Mr Stacey suffered a heart attack days before the case came to court and died before he was able to see justice done.

A senior Northumbria Police officer apologised to Mr Stacey's family for the blunders during the case, but they said it was "too little too late".

His daughters said he never recovered from the stigma of being falsely accused of killing his own son.

Mr Pritchard was killed in his home in Sunderland in 2004, but it was not until the following year that police arrested his father on suspicion of murder.

Mr Stacey was charged with the killing and remanded in custody, where he spent up to 23 hours a day locked in his cell.