Couple locked up by cops for 20 hours accused of stealing OAP’s cash – when it was in his fridge
They say police treated them 'like animals' in mix-up over campervan sale
A COUPLE have accused cops of treating them "like animals" after they were accused of stealing an OAP's cash - which was later found stashed in his FRIDGE.
Ben Finn and wife Shelbea were arrested and locked up in police cells for 20 hours until the mix-up was sorted out.
The couple had paid the man £3,600 in cash for a second-hand 1994 Talbot Pilote campervan in Gloucester.
But after driving it back to their home in Worcester, cops turned up at their door at night, seized the campervan and arrested them for theft.
The elderly man who had sold it to them had claimed they must have stolen the money they had handed over earlier by sneaking into his house and rifling through a kitchen drawer.
But an officer later found the money in the pensioner's fridge and they were released without charge.
The couple, who have a one-year-old son, Archey, say they have been left traumatised by the ordeal last Wednesday.
Mrs Finn, 22, said: "I'm hysterical because I have never, ever left my son. I have never been arrested or in trouble.
"My son was upstairs in bed. My mum and dad came down to help my son.
"We have been treated like animals and my husband works so hard for everything we have.
"We wanted to pay the seller the money into his bank but he refused and said it would affect his pension so we agreed to pay cash.
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"He had haggled the price up all the time we were there but we were happy to pay and he had wished us well."
Gloucestershire Police apologised and said they had acted on reports from the old man's daughter.
A spokesman said: "The report to police was made in good faith by the daughter of the seller and treated as the suspected distraction theft of a vulnerable elderly man, which we take very seriously.
"However we understand the distress caused to those who were arrested and would like to reiterate our apology."
Mr Finn, a landscape gardener, said: "Officers should have used compassion and discretion. They didn't need to traumatise my wife the way they did."
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