Police order eight-year-old to break toy gun

Eight-year-old Samuel England was left in tears after a police officer ordered that his toy gun should be broken in front of him.

The youngsters was playing with the plastic toy outside his house in Pinehurst on Wednesday when the police officer pulled him up.



The family say the officer called at the family's home and said it was an offence for Samuel to play with an imitation firearm in a public place.

Samuel's mother's partner John Standen, 34, was told to destroy the gun or face the boy being taken to the police station.



"The officer told me if I didn't break it Samuel would be arrested," he said. "It is not right as it is only a toy gun - you can buy them everywhere."

Five minutes after the police officer had witnessed the destruction of the gun, he returned to complain about sister Sophie's Barbie car. The six-year-old was travelling on the pavement in the battery-powered car at three miles an hour and the officer said it is only allowed in the garden.