Farmer seized by armed police... for scaring off a dog
by KIRSTY WALKER, Daily Mail

<http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_articl
e_id=385312&in_page_id=1770&in_a_source=&ct=5>

When elderly farmer Frank Cook saw a neighbour's dog threatening his
lambs, he would have been within his rights to shoot it dead. 
Instead he fired a warning shot just behind the terrier, peppering its
back leg with pellets but sparing its life. 

Mr Cook, 77, says he went to the neighbour, apologised and offered to
pay any vet's bill although the dog was wagging its tail and did not
appear to be seriously hurt. But the neighbour said he had called the
police. 

Minutes later, says the farmer, he was standing on his lawn with his two
young grandchildren when six police cars roared up and dozens of
officers poured out, five of them armed. 

During the humiliating five hour ordeal which followed, Mr Cook, a
former churchwarden, says he was forced into an armlock, handcuffed,
sworn at and bundled into a police car. 

Arm lock: One of Frank Cook's sons took his picture of an officer
restraining the farmer <http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2006/05/frankco
okST060506_450x350.jpg>

He was then locked in a police cell and forced to give his photograph,
DNA and fingerprints. At one point, he claims officers even pointed a
gun at his grown-up son Jonathan. Eventually, however, he was released
without charge. 

'I am a law-abiding citizen and did not deserve this treatment,' said Mr
Cook yesterday at his farm in Bourne End, Bedfordshire. 'I couldn't
believe all this had happened on a nice spring day.' 

The farmer claims that he had believed he was on good terms with his
neighbour, who had previously told him to shoot the dog if it caused any
trouble. 

Shortly after the incident with the lambs, however, the neighbour called
complaining that the dog was injured. 

'I immediately went to my neighbour and apologised as I hadn't
recognised the animal,' said Mr Cook. 'He told me he had called the
police.' 

Mr Cook, who suffers from high blood pressure, said he was happy to
explain the situation and even directed officers to his farm after they
phoned him and said they were lost. 'I was standing out on the lawn with
my grandchildren, when this armed flotilla of police cars arrived. Our
jaws just dropped. 

'To my utter astonishment, no fewer than six police cars drove up. Armed
policemen stepped out of the front and stood with their guns at the
ready. 

'Then three men came across the lawn. I was approached by one of them
and asked whether I was Frank Cook. On assuring them I was, I was then
cautioned and arrested. 

'I protested and told them not be silly and to send the armed men back
into their cars and then I would talk to them. They would not listen. 

'Instead, one officer put an arm lock on me, frogmarched me to a car and
pushed me in. They told me they were arresting me for criminal damage.' 

The officers told Mr Cook that it was 'standard practice' to send so
many officers out in an incident involving a firearm. Mr Cook claims he
was sworn at in the car by an officer and was handcuffed after
complaining about the cold. 

'I was getting very scared and didn't know what was going to happen to
me. The handcuffs were cutting into my wrist.' 

After arriving at the police station, he was ordered to hand over his
wallet, belt and shoes and locked in an empty cell. 

Mr Cook says he is particularly angry that his grandchildren Nicholas,
five, and Michela, three, were forced to watch as he was forced into the
police car. 

He says he has been unable to sleep since his ordeal and is suffering
from dizzy spells and pins and needles in his arms and legs. 

His wife Rebecca said: 'They had made up their minds that he was some
sort of terrorist. We are very worried about what is happening in a
democratic and law-abiding country.' 

To add insult to injury, the farmer has reported two burglaries to
police in the last few months. But the robbers have still not been
caught. 

Mid Bedfordshire Tory MP Nadine Dorries, who has taken up Mr Cook's
case, condemned the 'macho' behaviour of the police. She said: 'This is
a case of using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. I cannot believe that
something like this can happen in England.' 

A spokesman for Bedfordshire police yesterday said that a complaint had
been received about officers' behaviour and an internal investigation
had been launched. 
========================================================================

No doubt as this man has gone to the press he is lying.
-- 
Mr X