Guard Dog Bitten…

A former police officer was arrested and held in a cell after confronting a group of unruly teenagers over their behaviour.

Paul Lawson, 52, challenged the youths after they threw a beer can at his car as he drove past.

Mr Lawson told two police officers that the gang had threatened to kill him and smash up his vehicle.

But he was then accused of attacking one of the teenagers and held in a police cell for two hours before being bailed on suspicion of assault causing bodily harm

The former inspector from Morpeth, Northumberland, who served 30 years with London's Metropolitan Police, was eventually told seven weeks later that no further action would be taken against him.

He said: "I still can't believe this. As far as I am concerned, the police just abrogated their responsibility and should be ashamed of themselves".

I should be sympathetic. I should be…

But perhaps Mr Lawson now knows a little of how the general public feels when the guard dog they’ve kept, fed, trained and cleared up after all their lives (to the tune of hundreds of thousands of pounds of tax) turns on them instead of the burglar.

Because it’s easier. Or because its new masters told it to..