Police apologise for 'wrong raid'

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Norfolk Police blamed the mistake on "inaccurate information"

Police have apologised to a family in Norwich after carrying out a drugs raid on the wrong house.

Paul Lovett had been asleep after working a night shift when officers raided his home and strip-searched him.

His partner, Sheree Jolly, and their two children saw their hand-cuffed father being escorted down stairs.

Officers made a check call and admitted they had made a mistake. Police gave the couple flowers and £100, and sent sweets to the children.

Emotional damage

Miss Jolly said: "It's the emotional damage that we have had to deal with.

"We just didn't know what to think, innocent people in their own home to be intimidated like that, it's just terrible.

Miss Jolly said she never doubted the innocence of Mr Lovett, her partner of nine years, and initially thought the raid was a Jeremy Beadle-style joke.

"I was shocked to start with. Seeing Paul in handcuffs hit home that this was something real and I just broke down and started crying.

"Paul said 'are you sure you've got the right address' because it's easy to get mixed up.

"A couple of them went into the kitchen and made a phone call or radioed in to somebody and came back in and said 'it seems we have got the wrong house'."

Error made

Miss Jolly said within an hour officers returned with sweets and flowers, and after making a complaint at a police station, the couple were offered £100.

Det Ch Insp Paul Martin, from Norfolk Police, said: "I would like to take the opportunity to apologise on behalf of the constabulary because obviously it was an error that was made, but also, I want to emphasise that these incidents are extremely rare.

"We do all we can to verify our information and as a result of this we are currently reviewing what our procedures are."