DAD PRAISES ARMED POLICE WHO RAIDED HOME:
ADAD who was handcuffed and pinned face down in the street after a dozen armed police raided his house has praised officers for doing a good job.
A GMP firearms unit swooped on John Burke’s Rochdale home yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) after receiving reports a man had been spotted digging up guns in his back garden.
He was dragged into the street, restrained and questioned while officers searched the property.
It turned out to be a false report, but Mr Burke, 57, says he understands why the police responded with such force.
The dad-of-two, of Parkway, Greave, said: “I looked out the window and saw a black BMW outside the house then all these other police cars.
“They looked like were going to knock the door down and I thought ‘I’d rather they didn’t’ so I opened it.
“A female officer who seemed to be charge said show me your hands and step forward and another officer shouted put your hands behind your head.
“Then they cuffed me and dragged me out into the street and it was only then I realised it was the armed police.
“By that point I realised it was obviously something serious.”
A neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “It was like something out of a film. All of a sudden all these armed police were just everywhere. They dragged him out into the street and had him face down on the road.”
After searching his home Mr Burke said police then explained they had received reports about a gun being spotted on the property.
And despite the hairraising experience Mr Burke praised police for treating the allegation seriously.
He said: “The police have their job to do and procedures to follow.
“If they get a report like that they have to respond properly, especially with the way the world is now.
“I’m just treating it as one of those things. It was a bit of an adventure and it gives me a story to tell for the next few weeks.”
A GMP spokeswoman said: At about 4.15pm on Tuesday, April 18, police received a report of a man with a gun on Parkway in Rochdale.
“Armed response officers attended and found no trace of a man with a gun. It was later deemed to be a false report.”