Wrong house is raided again (From This Is Wiltshire)

Wrong house is raided again

9:11am Thursday 18th May 2006 in

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POLICE looking for suspected drug dealers bungled an operation by storming into an innocent woman's house.

The blunder happened in Victoria Road, Devizes the same street where seven months ago police officers smashed down an innocent pensioner's door in a drugs raid.

The latest gaffe happened when a police officer together with his spaniel sniffer dog walked into a house and began searching for drugs in the living room.

Householder Tina Strawson, a mother of four, was sitting on her garden wall at the front and was astonished to see the policeman and dog walk into her home.

She said: "He opened my gate and they walked down the path. My front door was open and he and the dog walked in and went into the front room. I followed them in and the policeman opened the drawers of a cupboard and told the dog to sniff in them.

"He also lifted cushions off the settee and the dog sniffed through my baby son's toy's box. He asked me if I had any hamsters which I thought was strange. He let the dog off the lead which I thought was disgusting as my kids don't like dogs.

"I asked him what he was doing and he said it was a drugs raid. He asked if a woman police officer had been over with the warrant and when I said she had not he went outside to talk to her.

"She told him the warrant was not for my address and the policeman realised he had made a mistake. He was embarrassed and kept saying sorry. He even said why did you not stop me and ask me?"

Mrs Strawson, 33, who has lived in her Sarsen Housing Association house for seven years, said: "I'm annoyed about it. I've never been involved with drugs and this is going to give me a bad name. There was a neighbour who saw what was going on and she was looking at me weird.

"It's total incompetence by the police. I don't know how they can make such a mistake."

Three homes in Victoria Road were raided last Thursday by Devizes police. A police spokesman confirmed that Mrs Strawson's home should not have been raided.

He said: "The dog handler went from one address to another and when he reached Mrs Strawson's, saw his colleagues searching a vehicle, as tasked, outside an open front door. The officer made the wrong assumption that this was the address being searched and went in with his dog.

"Very quickly he realised that he had made a mistake, apologised profusely to the occupant and asked whether she wished to make a complaint. The lady declined to do so, nevertheless the local commander, Inspector Caroline Evely, will be contacting her to reinforce that apology."

Mr Taylor said the police found no drugs at the three addresses raided and said the warrants were issued based on information from the local community. Meanwhile occupants of two flats raided on the same day have alleged police harassment.

Richard Pearce, his brother Matthew Pearce and another person were arrested on suspicion of controlled drugs and later released without charge.

Mr Pearce, 29, said they were strip searched at Melksham Police Station, then taken to Chippenham Hospital where they were internally searched and X-rayed.

They were released without charge. Mr Pearce said this was about the third time their flat had been raided since October. He said: "It's harassment and something has got to be done to stop it."

Mr Pearce's mother Susan Smith's flat was also raided.

Mrs Smith, 53, and her husband, Ian, 60, are both diabetic and said the raid had left them in shock.

Mrs Smith said: "I haven't got a criminal record and neither has my husband. The police said they understood we had heroin in the flat. I'm disgusted that they could think we are going to be into drugs."