1 week Ago
The man – who was released without charge once TVP discovered the weaponry was “ornamental” – told the Oxford Mail that he did not want to be named following the ordeal which saw him handcuffed in front of his neighbours on his street. While he said police apologised for wasting his time, he added his mum has suggested he makes an official complaint. On Monday afternoon at midday armed officers raided a property on Marlborough Road near the city centre after responding to an unrelated incident that led to the arrests of a woman and boy on suspicion of blackmail.
As they conducted that raid police officers with TVP noticed the Second World War memorabilia in a neighbouring window and arrested the occupier later that afternoon. The man said he was initially held under section 5 of the 1968 Firearms Act and after several hours in the station was released without charge at around 5pm. “I said from the start, I can look inside them (the grenades),” he told the officers.
“There is nothing inside them. “They are trained officers so how could they not tell? If they just listened to what I was saying it could have been solved then.” After taking him to a local police station, TVP soon discovered that the weaponry was for decoration.
A spokesperson said: “The munitions on further investigation were found to be ornamental hand grenades which were not live and were not illegal. “As such the man arrested has been released with no further action.” Describing his experience, the man – who lives by himself – said: “They did not even know what they were charging me with when I was there.
“They were halfway through doing my fingerprints when they said they could release me.” Long interested in “wars throughout history”, he sourced the collection from antique shops around London and all together says it is worth several hundred pounds. It included a German Stielhandgranate stick grenade, a Soviet Union F1 Fragmentation grenade as well as bullets for several historic weapons including a Kalashnikov automatic rifle.
Though his mother is quite unhappy about the arrest and has suggested he complains, he is more concerned about reclaiming his collection. “Most of all I want my stuff back,” he said. In addition, to gain access to his property the police took his keys which have also not been returned.
He says he’s received no information about how to get his possessions back other than a crime number. He added: “I think they were just doing their job, but I think they could have dealt with it a lot better.” He added that the custody sergeant apologised for wasting his time and they took him home afterwards in a squad car.
Nearly a dozen police officers, including several armed officers and a police K9 officer carried out the operation Marlborough Road..
