'I was gardening when armed police arrested me - they thought I was an extremist

Metro

3 days ago

A man walking back from his allotment holding gardening tools was arrested for carrying 'offensive weapons', he told Metro.
Samuel Rowe, 35, spent his morning tending to his elephant garlic and globe artichokes with a peeling knife, sickle and trowel.
At around 10.30am on July 3, armed police arrested Rowe at his home in Fallowfield, Manchester, and accused him of carrying a 'dagger'.
Sam said he had little choice but to accept a police caution – an admission of guilt – after 12 hours behind bars because police were unable to contact a solicitor for him.
Describing his arrest, Sam told Metro: 'I got home and decided to trim the hedge with the sickle by the front door. After five minutes, I heard shouting and turned around to see armed police.
Officers, who did not present their weapons, shouted at Sam to 'drop the knife', despite him stressing that he was not holding a knife but a sickle.
'They turned me around, pushed me against the house, cuffed me and took everything from my tool belt,' he added.
'They've said that the armed police were there because they were the closest ones at the time, which would suggest if someone was graffitiing a wall at that time, they'd have had guns pointed at them'
During the interrogation, police asked Sam what an allotment is, what the tools are used for and whether he was planning on hurting anybody.
He told police that the tools in his belt were a Niwaki Hori Hori gardening trowel, an Ice Bear Japanese gardener's sickle and a peeling knife once owned by his grandmother.
'They were trying to make out like I'm some sort of extremist,' he said.
He knew the tools could cause injury, he told the investigator, it's why he has a first aid kit in his tool belt: 'I just thought, 'Why are they asking stupid questions?'
'I could barely string a sentence together. My voice was high. I took ages to answer questions because my brain wasn't working,' he added.
Sitting inside a cell, Sam said he was unable to call his girlfriend, a teacher, as she was working.
'Nobody knows I'm here,' he says he thought to himself. 'I didn't know when I was getting out, didn't really know what was going on, and I didn't know where I stood legally as no one was there for me.
'I thought, if it's a knife crime, then that's a prison sentence – then I won't be getting out of this cell.'
An initial police statement said Rowe was arrested at 12.20pm, when Sam said he was arrested two hours before.
When approached by the Metro, police officials said this was when officers 'contacted a solicitor, which is what we accidentally thought was the arrest time'.
Yet Sam claimed he repeatedly asked the police for one until about 7pm, when he was told officers rang a solicitor 'three times with no response'.
Sam was given a conditional caution, which included having to be educated about knife crime legislation and a call with mental health professionals.
Cautions do not amount to a criminal offence, but some are flagged up on Disclosure Barring Service checks, used by employers when recruiting.
'I need a DBS for work, we do visiting shows and, in-house, we work with adults who have a history or are at risk of homelessness and do shows with adults and children with learning disabilities,' Sam added.
Returning home, Sam claimed that a packet of seeds that was in his tool belt was on a dresser in his bedroom.
'I was powerless against them… They're relying on me being grateful for being let go, shutting up and being scared,' Sam said.
Legal experts told Metro that the law around carrying offensive weapons is murky at best.
'I can understand why he was arrested,' said Stephen Halloran, one of the founding directors of Lawtons and a specialist criminal defence solicitor.
'Looking at the items, the trowel looks problematic and even the company website cautions against carrying it in public and outlines that you could be committing the offence he was arrested for. The sickle speaks for itself.'
While Sam had a 'reasonable excuse' for having the instruments, 'on balance, moving the tools on a regular basis between your home address and an allotment is inviting trouble'.
Nick Titchener, a managing partner at Lawtons, said that, typically, garden tools aren't considered offensive weapons – it's all about intention.
Stressing this is an 'over-simplification', Titchener said: 'Merely carrying a pair of garden shears in public from location A to location B for logistical reasons, eg, an allotment or shop back home, would not in itself be an offence.
'Provided that the person in question did not have an intention to use them for an ulterior purpose, such as to harm or provoke fear of violence, ie, used or threatened as a weapon.'
Sam said that when he was gifted the trowel, he was not aware of any warnings.
The trowel's product page states: 'Please familiarise yourself with the Offensive Weapons Law before carrying this tool in public.
'We strongly advise that you keep this tool concealed, sheathed, and out of sight in public spaces – preferably in a gardening bag or toolbox rather than on your belt.'
Archived versions of the webpage, seen by Metro, show there was no disclaimer before at least July 27.
Sam spent two years on a council waiting list for the Chorlton plot, planting rhubarb and raspberries and tending to the pond three times a week.
'I thought doing gardening would be good for my mental health,' he said. 'Now I associate it with that experience. I don't feel 100% safe walking there.'
'At around [10.30am] on July 3, 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.'
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