Groom mistaken for a kidnapped victim

Officers swooped in on a car to rescue a tied up kidnapping victim - only to discover he was a groom on a stag party.
Police were called after a horrified mum and her 14-year-old daughter spotted a tied up victim being carried by four men with tights over their faces.
The man was then 'roughly' bundled into a car by the gang of men in Gloucester - before they sped off in two cars towards the M5 at 11.20am on Friday.

Raucous: Police were furious when they discovered the kidnapping victim was a groom on his stag party

Their two cars were tracked as they made their way down the motorway, with officers pouncing as they reached junction 24 by Bridgwater, Somerset, at 1.29pm.
Officers were left furious when the ‘gang’ and their ‘victim’ were forced to admit the ‘abduction’ was simply a prank - and all the men were given words of advice.
Inspector Arman Mathieson, of Gloucestershire Constabulary, said the men had been told to apologise to the 'shaken up' mother and daughter who called police.

He said: 'We received a 999 call at 11.20am from a distressed woman who, along with her 14 year old daughter, had seen four men with tights covering their faces carrying a tied up man and bundling him roughly into a car.
'We immediately sent officers to the scene and treated it as a genuine abduction, following up all the appropriate procedures for an incident of that sort.

Embarrassing: The party apologised to the mother and daughter who believed they were witnessing a serious crime

'The vehicle was linked to Chippenham in Wiltshire, and was believed to be heading for the M5, so we liaised with our partner forces.
'At around 1.30pm the vehicle was stopped by Avon and Somerset police at junction 24 of the M5, when it was established it was a ‘prank’ as part of a stag party.
'We are dedicated to keeping people safe from harm and had to treat this seriously, given the description we were given of what happened and the distress it had caused to witnesses.
'While we could arrest the people involved in the stag party for various offences, we feel the best course of action might be for them to apologise to the mother and daughter who witnessed this and who were very shaken up by what happened.'
A spokesman for Avon and Somerset police refused to confirm whether armed police had been present at the swoop.

He said: 'Officers stopped two vehicles at junction 24 of the M5.

'The occupants of the vehicles were given words of advice and this turned out to be a false alarm with good intent.
'Officers had been responding to a call from a member of the public who was reporting an attempted abduction.
'While this may have been considered a harmless prank a significant police response was unnecessarily diverted through heavy traffic and adverse weather to attend this incident.
'This could have jeopardised the safety of members of the public, the officers involved or our response to a genuine emergency.'


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