THE prosecution has dropped charges against two men accused of kidnapping a woman from the city last summer.

Marcus Paul Green, 31, and Ryan Joel Beevers, 32, were accused of carrying off a woman after a disturbance in Tang Hall in the early hours of August 26.

Police cordoned off a house in Osbaldwick Lane and a woman was later found safe in Leeds.

Green, of Callin Court, Greyfriars, Chester, has been in prison custody ever since he was arrested within hours of the incident.

Both he and Mr Beevers, of Shadowmoss Road, Wythenshaw, Manchester, who was charged later, denied a charge of kidnap.

At York Crown Court, Rachael Landin, for the prosecution, said that police had carried out "extensive inquiries" since the incident and that as a result it was no longer in the public interest to pursue the case.

It was also unlikely the CPS could prove the case against the pair.

Both men were formally acquitted. Mr Beevers was allowed walk free.

In August Green had pleaded guilty to driving whilst disqualified and without insurance on the same day as the kidnap.

He was given a two-month prison sentence and banned from driving for 13 months.