Posted on 09/08/2012 11:05:45 PM PDT by atomic conspiracy
A COUPLE held by police for 66 hours after robbers were shot at their cottage spoke for the first time yesterday about their “living nightmare” following their arrest. Businessman Andy Ferrie, 35, said he opened fire simply to protect his “precious, lovely wife” Tracey.
She revealed she became so terrified after their arrest she thought cops would NEVER release them. And between them, they told of a shocking ordeal in which they were THROWN in separate police cells wearing grey prison-style tracksuits and black plimsolls; GRILLED by cops in a series of interviews; BANNED from talking to each other, and HANDCUFFED for a bewildering court appearance.
Andy told how he “plumbed the depths of despair” when he was told a possible charge against him had been upgraded from GBH to attempted murder.
And he became so anxious he could not eat a single morsel of food.
Tracey, 43, said: “I was completely petrified by the events. Being locked up in a police station cell just yards from my husband but banned from talking to him was agony.
“When I can get some sleep now I wake up with a start and think I’m back in the cell. It’s mortifying and stomach turning.”
Andy and Tracey were woken by the sound of breaking glass just after midnight a week ago at their isolated cottage near Melton Mowbray, Leics.
The panic-stricken pair leapt from their bed — Andy naked and sales rep Tracey in just pants and socks — to find four intruders.
Andy fired at them with a shotgun used for clay pigeon shoots by country sports fan Tracey.
wo men were later arrested after going to hospital for treatment to wounds. Andy, who cannot talk in detail about the events for legal reasons, said: “I was petrified, scared stiff. I only did what any other bloke would have done given the situation. I’m no hero or hard man. I did what I did to protect my precious, lovely wife.
I put my hand on my heart to say I took a calculated shot to scare, hurt and to get people out of my house. I was only a few feet away — I could have shot to kill but I didn’t. Daft as it sounds I was relieved later when I was told the injuries I had caused were not life threatening. The events of the last few days have scarred us for life.”
There was another scare for the couple when armed cops arrived outside. Andy, who has a motorhome repair business, said: “All I could see was shadows in the darkness. I bellowed, ‘How do I know it’s the police — prove it.’ “I was only sure when an officer dressed in what looked like SAS gear approached the window. I saw his hands tap a semi-automatic weapon he was holding and he shone a torch on his badge.
“Me and Tracey were both just overcome with emotion.” Tracey said: “There were police vehicles everywhere and a helicopter with spotlights above us. Our little cottage looked like something out of CSI.”
ut the devoted couple’s ordeal was far from over as they were carted off to the custody block of a nick in Leicester.
Andy, who stands 6ft 3in and is known by friends as a “gentle giant,” said: “The worst part was knowing Tracey was just down the corridor but I couldn’t see her. I kept asking the officers how she was but they just kept saying, ‘She’s fine.’
Going into the little exercise yard where I was told she had just been made me feel a bit better and close to her. I felt like some teenage kid wanting to be near a girl he fancies. It was crazy.” He added: “When I was told my case had been upgraded to attempted murder I just crumpled. I couldn’t believe it and saw myself being sent to prison for a long, long time.
“I was offered food but didn’t eat for the whole 66 hours we were held.”
Tracey said: “Part of the nightmare was going to court in a police van so they could get an extension to carry on questioning. We were with each other but banned from talking.”
She told how they were handcuffed as they entered and left the court building. And she said: “I honestly didn’t think I would be kept in custody at all.
“I did admit to the police I had been holding a crowbar and a torch during what happened so I suppose that was seen as grounds to hold me.
“I’m only 5ft 2in and I freely admitted I would have used it in my own home to protect my husband and myself. I would have had a go.”
She added: “I was in my cell staring at the walls on Tuesday when I heard Andrew being spoken to in his cell. “I heard them say ‘attempted murder’. My heart just froze and I thought things were getting out of control and we were never going to get out.”
But the following day the pair were freed on bail. Hours later police called at the safe house where they are staying to tell them no charges would be brought.
Andy said: “I couldn’t believe it and just hugged Tracey for dear life. It was as if a weight had been lifted from our heads that was slowly crushing us.
“But I still cannot believe the whole thing happened. I’m not sleeping and really don’t feel at all well. I suppose it’s still shock. “I knew I was going to be arrested because I had just shot someone. There was no way round it. But the police were understanding, courteous to us throughout — very professional.”
The couple are hoping to emigrate to Australia to start a new life. Any criminal convictions would have wrecked their chances of visas.
Andy, who admits he became extremely security conscious after a previous unrelated break-in four years ago, said:
“Going to Australia was a dream — now it’s vital. But wherever we live I will have to have bars on the windows.” Tracey said: “I want to live a long way away to help me forget it.”
A man has appeared before magistrates to admit aggravated burglary at the Ferries’ cottage. Another did not enter a plea. Two more men have been freed on bail in connection with the case.
I don't see those posters on this thread. Funny that.
Well, here's one of them...and only too ready to acknowledge I was wrong. Now these further details have emerged, it's had to imagine that there's anybody over here who would argue that the police actions were not, to put it mildly, excessive. As far as I know we've yet to hear any reasoned explanation from the police themselves, and it's unlikely we will until the prosecutions of the intruders are complete - but given that the main offender has pleaded guilty, that's unlikely to take long.
It's difficult to imagine they'll be able to come up with anything which will prevent a successful action before the Police Complaints Commission, and/or a suit for wrongful arrest. (And in defence of the British system, it ought to be said that such actions are very often successful - the police are far from immune when they get things wrong.)
It would, however, be a mistake to see this case as typical of the way police behave in such situations. As usual, it's the untypical which makes the headlines. For what it's worth, here again are summaries of the rigorously timetabled procedure which provides plenty of checks and balances from the moment somebody is arrested or detained. Assuming these procedures were followed (and the police will be given a hard time if they weren't), it will be interesting to see what grounds they offer to justify the continuing detention. My guess is they will make great play of the fact (as appears to be the case) that the couple chose not to contact the police themselves, so that all they had to go on was whatever story the wounded intruder spun them....
(The perception in the US is that Britons have an irrational fear of guns. Case in point: I live very near to a gun shop where the primary stock-in-trade is former "club" guns from the UK. The shop owner bought them en masse when the gun clubs were shuttered. The guns in question are nearly all single-shot target .22s. Many are collector's items of great value. That even in a controlled club setting these guns were regarded as dangerous weapons that needed to be banned is almost incomprehensible.)
Another point worth mentioning is that it might not have happened as the paper reported. My family has personal experience of a tabloid newspaper making stuff up out of thin air about a story to ‘sex up’ an otherwise comparably boring story. And considering this story is from ‘the Sun’, a newspaper for cretins whose intellectual curiosity doesn’t extend much further than a crude appreciation of a jailbait girl’s pert bewbies displayed on page 3, this kind of yarn spinning is exactly the sort of thing they would do to increase their readership and get them going.
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