‘I’m 82 and have had two hip ops yet cops treated me like terrorist for owning gun’
‘ELDERLY AND HALF ASLEEP’ FARMER LEFT TERRIFIED AS ARMED POLICE RAID HOUSE
AN elderly farmer claimed he was made to feel like a “terrorist” after he was interrogated by armed police responding to reports of shooting.
The 82-year-old widower, who has limited mobility, said it should have been clear to the officers he did not represent a danger to them or the public.
Gwynedd beef and sheep farmer Dafydd Wynn Williams was in bed when he heard a helicopter circling above, followed by loud “hammering” on his door.
Officers told him an “altercation” had occurred nearby in which three shots were allegedly fired.
Mr Williams told them he was unaware of the incident – but suspicions were raised when officers found a rifle in a utility room which should have been locked up.
Mr Williams, who lives alone, said he got the .22 rifle out earlier after spotting a rogue fox that had killed all his chickens in recent days.
Police took away the gun along with a broken air rifle, all his ammunition and his firearms certificate.
Mr Williams has filed an official complaint with North Wales Police for the treatment he claims he received.
The force confirmed an investigation is currently taking place into a complaint.
“They have all my details on their firearms file,” he said.
“So should have known that I am 82 and live alone.
“I have white hair and a white beard. I’ve had two hip operations and can only walk slowly and with difficulty. So when they saw me their suspicions should have evaporated instantly.”
He said the experience was “frightening and unsettling”.
Mr Williams had gone to bed at 10.15pm at his Pant y Cyff farmhouse, Pentir, near Bangor, having locked up his geese at dusk. Since then he had remained inside all evening, he said.
He was still awake at 11.15 when he heard the sound of a helicopter above the farmhouse.
“It sounded like it was circling the area,” he said.
“Next moment I saw flashing lights through the bedroom window. I got up to investigate and I was halfway down the stairs when I heard loud and continuous hammering on the back door, which is the usual entrance to the property.”
Three officers asked to come in. Mr Williams declined, claiming he had done nothing wrong.
He said they entered anyway, having requested to see his firearms certificate.
“I went to fetch my glasses from the living room and when I turned around, the three officers were standing behind me,” he said.
“Their eyes were everywhere, clearly looking for something.
“They were all fully dressed in black with helmets, balaclavas, body armour and boots, and all carried police rifles. It was very intimidating.
“One kept asking me questions, as if he didn’t believe what I was saying. It was their manner that was upsetting. Question after question.
“I have never been in trouble all my life, yet they treated me like I was a terrorist or an armed robber, not a half-asleep elderly farmer.”
One officer disclosed the raid was in relation to reports of an altercation on a nearby footpath in which three shots had apparently been fired.
The footpath is some 700 yards from the farm and Mr Williams said he was not aware of any incident.
As it lies over a ridge, he claimed he wouldn’t have heard anything anyway.
The officers handed him a phone and asked him to identify his farm fields on Google Maps.
He felt this suggested the footpath incident might not even have been on his land.
During a search of the house, officers discovered Mr Williams’ rifle in a utility room. He said there was a perfectly rational explanation.
“In recent days a fox has killed all my hens,” he said. “Five the first time, three the next time.
“I’d left one of the carcasses in a barn and that day it had disappeared, so I knew he was still around.
“That afternoon, around 4pm, I saw him through the kitchen window, just 20 yards away.
“I went to fetch my gun but by the time I got back, he had disappeared.
“I left the rifle standing in the room by the back door, meaning to put it away.”
Mr Williams claimed he had not fired the gun for at least two months. “Ever since I took a potshot at a grey squirrel,” he said.
After the firearms team left, at around 11.45pm, Mr Williams returned to his bedroom.
“I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “I lay awake all night, going over and over in my head what had happened.”
Mr Williams, who lost his wife 22 years ago, accepts that firearms officers cannot take any chances and must be prepared for the worst.
But he insisted there were right and wrong ways to deal with such incidents.
“They can’t help the way they are dressed or equipped, but it was their brusque attitude towards me that I found unacceptable,” he said.
“At all times they had their hands on their guns as if I was about to attack someone. Yet I hadn’t done anything wrong.”
Mr Williams has been told to expect a further visit from the police.
In the meantime he will be filing a complaint and seeking the return of his rifle.
North Wales Police confirmed an investigation is currently taking place into a complaint made to the force.
This, said a spokesperson, was in relation to “threats made and a firearm being discharged on a footpath in the Bangor area”.
They added: “Subsequent enquiries into this incident by officers resulted in a number of firearms and ammunition being seized from a residence in the area.
“We are unable to comment further as this is an ongoing investigation.”