Police raid second house in error

Police looking for cannabis farms mistakenly raided a second innocent person's home, it has emerged.

Northumbria Police apologised on Friday after smashing down the door of a Newcastle lecturer, who was handcuffed and told to "shut his mouth".

Now another resident, Jihane Graham, has come forward to say officers burst into her house at about the same time.

A spokeswoman for the force said they had also apologised unreservedly for the latest mistake.

They should have done proper surveillance, but they obviously didn't Jihane Graham

Mrs Graham, who has a three-year-old son, said she tried to stop officers smashing down her door.

She said: "I was screaming at them, saying 'I'll let you in', but they just bashed their way through.

"About 10 of them pushed me into a room and they said I was being raided on suspicion of having a cannabis farm. But I think when they got in here they realised they had made a mistake."

The 27-year-old said the force had since apologised to her, but the raid had left her child "extremely shaken".

She added: "They had my address on the warrant so it isn't as if they just got the wrong door.

Dr Ogba's house was raided on the same morning

"They should have done proper surveillance, but they obviously didn't."

The Northumbria Police spokeswoman said: "We gather intelligence in a number of ways and every effort is made to ensure the right property is targeted.

"Unfortunately on this occasion the wrong property was targeted. We are reviewing what happened to ensure this does not happen again, and we have apologised to the householder in person."

Both forced entries took place about half a mile apart in the city's West End on Friday morning.

In the other raid, Dr Ike-Elechi Ogba, a Northumbria Univeristy lecturer, said he was restrained and told to "shut his mouth and co-operate" while officers searched for drugs.

The incidents were part of a large-scale police operation to close down cannabis factories in the area.

Detectives say they have arrested 30 people and seized £4m of cannabis in Tyneside over the past two days.