Armed police arrest gardener over his arsenal of allotment tools

Telegraph

2 days ago

Armed police arrested a gardener for 'carrying a knife' as he walked home with his allotment tools.
Samuel Rowe, 35, was detained, kept in a cell and cautioned after being accused of carrying a ' large dagger ' last month.
He had just tended to his allotment vegetable patch and was trimming the hedges outside his home with a sickle when armed police swooped on July 3.
His Japanese gardening trowel, a sickle and a fruit harvesting tool were confiscated before he was taken to a police station.
He was then held in a cell for more than seven hours before he was released when he accepted a caution for possession of an offensive weapon.
The theatre manager said he was left terrified when officers armed with guns turned up outside his home and now wants the caution overturned.
'Some kind of extremist'
Mr Rowe, of Manchester, said: 'I was coming back from my allotment in the morning.
'I'd just got home and started trimming the hedge at the top of my house, and then I heard shouting and it was armed police – two armed police telling me to 'drop the knife.'
'At the time I had my Japanese gardening sickle in my hand that I was using, so I dropped that along with the privet I'd been cutting.
'Then they turned me around, pushed me up against the house, handcuffed me behind my back, took everything out my belt.
'Then they asked me why I was there and where I'd been.
'Eventually they put me in the back of their van and took me to Cheadle Hulme police station, which is miles from my house.
'They got into their head I was some kind of extremist going out with knives.'
Conflicting accounts
He said he was then kept in cells and asked if he wanted a solicitor, but he never got to see one.
At interview, he says police asked him bizarre questions such as what an allotment was.
He has been growing fruit and veg – including rhubarb, broad beans, artichokes, and tomatoes, at his allotment since 2022.
Now, he is worried that the police caution he accepted will appear on background checks if he applies for future job interviews.
Greater Manchester Police said firearms officers were sent as they were the closest to the scene after they were alerted by a member of the public.
The force denies Samuel was ever refused legal advice, saying it tried multiple times to contact a solicitor and he chose to decline legal advice in the end.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said: 'At around 12.20pm on 3 July, we acted on a call from a member of the public that a man was walking in public wearing khaki clothing and in possession of a knife.
'Nearby officers were flagged down by the caller, who directed them towards a male.
'He was subsequently stopped and a small sickle, a large dagger which was in a sheath on a belt, and a peeling knife, were seized.
'He was arrested on suspicion of possession of an offensive weapon and taken into custody.
'He admitted the offence and was given a conditional caution, which entailed advice and guidance around the legislation of knives and bladed weapons in a public place.'