The boss of one of the top museums in the country is under investigation and has been suspended from his post.

Mike Hill, pictured, director of the Bronte Parsonage Museum in Haworth, has not been at his desk for at least a fortnight. The Bronte Society Council has set up a special committee to probe the "private internal matter."

High ranking members of the council are keeping tight lipped about the investigation, but Keighley member Charles Lemon confirmed that Mr Hill, who is in his 50s, had been suspended.

"It's a very unhappy business - I can say no more than that at the moment," he said.

Bronte Society chairman Margaret McCarthy, who lives in London, stressed he had not been sacked..

"There is an internal investigation which we are working to resolve. This matter has gone on too long. It could end up with him being sacked but I'm not saying anything at all yet."

She confirmed that Mr Hill was still a director and he would remain a director.

She refused to disclose the nature of the investigation at the Parsonage, the literary shrine to the Bronte sisters - Charlotte, Emily and Anne - which attracts thousands of tourists from home and abroad every year.

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