Man arrested for Facebook joke about killing lobsters

A shopper landed in hot water with the police after he bought two lobsters for dinner. They swooped when he wrote on Facebook about his plan to go into town 'to kill' and 'stab something in the neck'.

Four officers in bullet-proof vests handcuffed the suspect outside the Martin Hobbs fishmongers in Market Harborough, Leicestershire. They had been tipped off by a member of the public who had seen the posting. He was quizzed for 20 minutes before police were convinced it was a simple misunderstanding.



The man had earlier ordered the lobsters from shop assistant Sue VanWyk who said she had told him to kill the lobsters rather than boil them alive. She said: 'He planned to bake them. I said it was better to kill them first.' The man then wrote his jokey message, keeping it cryptic as the lobsters were for a secret meal for his wife, as he went to pick them up.

After the drama, the shaken shopper went back to the shop and explained his arrest to Sue. She said: 'He saw the funny side eventually - when he stopped shaking.'
Police confirmed they responded to a tip-off and 'not knowing what it was about, officers attended'.