Send for special branch: Police question pensioner over leaves on the drive next door

When two policemen arrived in a patrol car at Patrick O'Sullivan's home, he suspected a major crime had been committed.

After all, the local force was so stretched it had taken two days for officers to reach the scene of a nearby burglary.

So the pensioner was taken aback to learn that the two constables at his door were investigating how leaves, supposedly from his garden, had found their way on to a next- door neighbour's driveway.



Happily the officers soon cracked the case, deciding the culprit was nothing more than a spring breeze.

A spokesman for Essex police confirmed that officers had been sent to Mr O'Sullivan's house.

"We have to attend if somebody reports a crime," she added. "There would normally be two officers in a patrol car so they would go together."