BREAKING NEWS: Seven arrests made in missing £10.25m Northampton Town probe

Northampton Borough Council handed The Cobblers more than £10 million to complete a stadium development back in 2013, but only a small proportion of the funds were ever passed on to the stadium builders, the Buckingham Group. The football club later defaulted on the loan repayments.

In November 2015, police launched an investigation to discover whether the funds had been misappropriated.

But in a statement released in the last few minutes Northamptonshire Police has revealed that, to date, no one has been charged, despite the officers pursuing more than 700 lines of enquiry.

However, the force has confirmed seven people have been arrested and nine further people interviewed under caution.

The statement in full reads: "Northamptonshire Police continue to investigate the complex circumstances of the lending, use, and loss of £10.25 million of public money which was set aside for the redevelopment of Sixfields Stadium, the home of Northampton Town FC.

"To protect the integrity of this large financial investigation we do not routinely comment on the work ongoing, however, we recognise that this must be balanced against the understandable public interest.

"As part of 700 separate lines of inquiry we continue to investigate and analyse the results of thousands of financial transactions, relating to allegations of theft and fraud, bribery, misconduct in public office and electoral offences.

"To date, this has resulted in over 500 statements and reports being produced and more than 2,100 exhibits being seized.

"With the strict legal time limitations on how long an arrested person can remain in police custody or on bail, it often better serves the investigation of complex matters for interviews to be conducted voluntarily, but under caution.

"To date, this investigation has resulted in the arrest of seven individuals from across the country, with a further nine interviewed at length under caution.

"It is envisaged the investigative activity will continue for some months yet and so, at this stage, it is not appropriate to comment further on the nature of the interviews or the identity of those interviewed.

"As a prosecution decision file will only be submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service at the conclusion of the investigation, at this time no inference should be drawn from the interview of any individual.”