Arrested for making a Citizen's Arrest

[Grumpmeister]

This poor bugger stood up to a bunch of yobs trying to break into sheds on his allotment, chased them off and held one of them under citizens arrest only to find that he is the one to spend a night in the cells. Are the police so desperate to boost their arrest rate now that anyone who tries to defend their property is now an easy target for them? Offensive weapon my arse, he was working on the allotment with his 9 year old son, odds are he was holding a gardening implement. Hardly a hidden knife or 9mm automatic.

The obvious point that the police have apparently managedt o completely miss is that if those scrotes hadn't been trying to break into the sheds in the first place then the entire incident wouldnt have happened. 

A man who tried to carry out a citizen's arrest on youths who he said were attempting to break into allotment sheds was himself arrested by police.

Phil Hennessey, 44, was arrested in Medway on suspicion of assault and carrying a weapon, and bailed until July. He spent a night in custody.

He said he didn't expect to be detained and the incident had left him worried.

Det Insp Andy Pritchard said: "If there is an allegation of crime, we are duty-bound to investigate."

Mr Hennessey, who works at Chatham docks, said he chased the youngsters away from his allotment in Gillingham and tried to arrest one of them.

Mr Hennessey, who has a nine-year-old son, said: "It frightened the life out of me.

"I wasn't expecting to be arrested. I was expecting the guys that we chased to be arrested.

"It's worried me. If I'm down here alone with my son and they turn up, what am I supposed to do?"

Det Insp Andy Pritchard said: "We've received quite a number of allegations from quite a large number of people stating there is a serious allegation here of assault and the carrying of a weapon."

He said police procedure was to make an arrest and speak to the person as a suspect and then take into account what they say in interview.

He added: "We aren't going to discriminate on the basis of the age of the person reporting."

And he said actions taken in defence of property had to be reasonable.

"If it exceeds that mark, we have to consider that as a criminal offence," he said.

[Snoopy]

So the gang of would be break in merchants are kids who have banded together to concoct allegations against the guy who chased them off.

The Police have no choice but to investigate but let's credit them with some common sense. They know that if they follow the procedures that are laid down there is an even chance that no-one will be pointing a finger at them later saying "You f*cked it up" ~ In time the case will be established and the allotment holder will be told "no further action will be taken". There is always an outside possibility that the little scrotes at the bottom of this will end up on some sort of charge themselves. Not that any penalty will worry them.