Police officer called colleagues to complain his neighbour had put strawberries in his garden

Police were called to a fellow officer’s home after he complained about his neighbour dumping strawberries in his garden in Bargeddie, Lanarkshire. PC Kevin McTaggart complained after finding fruit strewn across his lawn, claiming it was put there by his upstairs neighbour Gordon Clark.

Gordon, 54, was quizzed by two officers over the claims. He denies the fruit claim and slammed police for turning up at his door. He said: “The police said he’d come home from work, found strawberries in his garden and was accusing me of placing them there. I said, ‘Are you serious? Two police officers come down in a squad car to question me about a guy finding fruit in his garden?’



“They replied, ‘If a complaint is made, we have to investigate it.’ I asked if I should be looking out for this on Crimewatch this week.” Things between the pair turned sour after a disagreement over who cuts the communal lawn at their private block of flats. Gordon wrote to the 34-year-old who lives with his partner, but they have never argued face-to-face about the issue. But Kevin called fellow officers when he found waste outside his window.

Gordon, who lives alone, said: “I don’t think anyone would call that a decent use of police resources. It’s not as if he’s come home and found a pile of horse manure in his garden.” A police spokeswoman confirmed that officers attended the flats. She said: “We can confirm that police attended a report of a complaint between neighbours in Bargeddie around 5.15pm on Wednesday. Advice was given to the householder and there was no further requirement from police at that time.” Kevin refused to comment on the incident.