Please can I have my ball back?

[InsaneApache]

A man arrested for refusing to return his neighbour's football has complained to police.

Ray Markham said footballs had been flying into his garden for years but when one smashed into his greenhouse last month he refused to return it.

The 68-year-old, who lives next to a policeman in Cubbington, said he was then arrested by four Warwickshire Police officers for theft of the ball.

Can I have my ball back? (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/5113082.stm)

Well at least it's good to know that 'plod' are on the ball these days.......:embarassed:

[Aenlic]

Am I reading that right? He refused to return the ball that was in his own yard and then got arrested? OK, that's insane.

And then he's told he can complain to some "standards" department if he doesn't like it?

In the U.S. he'd be choosing from a variety of lawyers camped on his doorstep to file the lawsuit for false arrest. And, although I think lawyers are for the most part leeches on the butt of society, I'd be rooting for him.

[edyzmedieval]

Talk about democracy.... :skull:

[doc_bean]

No wondet the world is going to hell...

This is the kind of stuff the police likes to busy themselves with, but when someone gets beaten up five feet from them they didn't see nothin'.

And people wonder why the extreme right is getting so popular in Europe :wall:

[ZombieFriedNuts]

Right time to get all those ball back

[Kralizec]

I hope this guy takes it to court.

[Al Khalifah]

Kids these days are so lazy. Half the fun of playing football in the back yard was breaking into your neighbours garden undetected to retrieve it when it went over...
I blame Metal Gear Solid.

[Fragony]

Glad to know we are not the only country where the police is completily useless. Soft on criminals but oh so firm on dissobedience.

[Marcellus]

I seem to remember that under law the man actually does have to give the ball back if asked, but still...arrested? The man should probably just have given the ball back, with a nice big bill for the cost of repairing the greenhouse.

[Mithrandir]

or just put a knife in the ball before returnnig it, saying it was punctured by glass from the greenhouse. And then sue for the costs of repairing & ofcourse for emotional damage :laugh4:

[Duke of Gloucester]

The BBC suggest on a different page that you entitled to keep a ball in such circumstances until the repairs to the greenhouse are completed:

You have to go about 3/4 of the way down the page (http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/your_rights/garden.shtml)

I think the police are in a spot of bother here; compensation should pay for a new greenhouse, I predict.

[Marcellus]

The BBC suggest on a different page that you entitled to keep a ball in such circumstances until the repairs to the greenhouse are completed:

You have to go about 3/4 of the way down the page (http://www.bbc.co.uk/consumer/your_rights/garden.shtml)

I think the police are in a spot of bother here; compensation should pay for a new greenhouse, I predict.

Thanks for the info. Unfortunately the article doesn't make clear whether the man has charged his neighbours for the damage yet or not. The only way he could be technically breaking the law is if they paid (or if he hasn't charged them for it) and he still refused to return the ball. Even so, four officers to arrest the man for theft is over the top.

[Oaty]

The police did not know how to respond due to the fact pasing the ball is a pastime that was thought to be in nonexistance. Further investigation shows the neighbors children did not have a console. This evidence has brought about an investigation of child neglect.

[InsaneApache]

LoL :laugh4: