Criminal gardens – footballs and murder weapons

#Football

A man arrested for refusing to return his neighbour's football has complained to police – about the police! Ray Markham said footballs had been flying into his garden for years but when one smashed through his greenhouse last month he refused to return it. The 68-year-old, who lives next to a policeman in Cubbington, claims that after he refused to return the ball, he was arrested by four Warwickshire Police officers for theft.

Mr Markham said ‘If it hadn't been a policeman next door ... I wouldn't have had four policemen on my doorstep, I wouldn't have seen a policeman. It's laughable really, if it wasn't serious it would be laughable.'

A Warwickshire Police spokesman said that it was their intention to resolve the matter amicably at a local level and that if Mr Markham was unhappy with the course of action taken he should contact the professional standards department at police headquarters and the matter would be further investigated.

Weed-killer

In 1922 an attempt was made to poison the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service with walnut whips. Brigadier-General Sir William Horwood, who was Commissioner 1920-1928, received a package of chocolates at his office, which he tucked into after lunch, believing them to be from his daughter Beryl. But something was horribly wrong, and not just because he was obviously a greedy pig! Horwood developed terrible stomach pains, but even during his agony, he was a true copper - he grabbed his magnifying glass and began examining the packaging, discovering it had been tampered with.

Subsequent investigation revealed that Walter Tatam was responsible for the poisoning attempt. He had contaminated the sweets with weed-killer and even targeted other members of the Met with poisoned chocolate éclairs. Nobody ever discovered what Tatam's motive was in attacking the police, but he was eventually charged with intent to commit murder.

Football photograph by Kevman16, used under a creative commons attribution licence

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