TROUBLED shop till software company Torex Retail has parted company with its chief executive Neil Mitchell.

Mr Mitchell, of Leckford Road, Oxford, is thought to have sparked a series of Serious Fraud Office raids in February on the Oxfordshire homes of other directors.

Torex, which employs about 60 people at its Witney headquarters and another 50 in Banbury, makes software for clients such as Argos.

It said in a statement that Mr Mitchell's "employment as chief executive of the company has been terminated". It declined to elaborate.

Mr Mitchell was suspended from his job in February, the day after the SFO raided the Hook Norton home of chairman Chris Moore and two former company executives, and shortly after Torex issued a profit warning.

He issued a statement saying that he had handed the SFO a dossier and said he was the "leader of the Torex whistleblowers".

Mr Mitchell had told the stockmarket last November that he believed the software company was "in robust health" and continued to provide "a platform for sustainable organic growth".

However, he said at the time that he had discovered a "small number" of "very specific" items in the accounts that required "re-alignment" at a cost of £4.8m.

Mr Mitchell, 42, previously worked for BAE Systems and IBM Global Services, before becoming corporate adviser to a several well-known companies, including Enron, Severn Trent and United Utilities.

He will be replaced by Keith Taylor, who was named acting chief executive in February.

Mr Moore, who founded Torex in his home village of Stonesfield, resigned from the board in March after the SFO carried out a second series of raids.

Shares in Torex have been suspended since the end of January and the company has received "expressions of interest" from potential buyers.