Armed police confront Sir Laughalot at city lake

ARMED police swooped on a swordwielding knight – as he carried out his daily exercise in his medieval fancy dress.

Three gun-toting police from the firearms unit were called after families spotted the mystery knight at a lake beauty spot in Cardiff.

The 999 callers feared the mystery swordsman would launch an attack with the three-foot weapon.

The “knight” was confronted at gunpoint – and was shocked to be ordered to put down the fearsome blade.

But police saw the funny side when they discovered it was fake, and that Sir Laughalot was only out for a walk in his fancy dress at Hendre Lake, in St Mellons.

Medical technician Mike James, 31, was walking around the beauty spot with his wife, Heather, 32, and son, Theo, three, when he saw the knight drama.

Mike said: “The whole thing was really surreal. We saw this guy walking around in this knight’s outfit and carrying a sword.

“About five minutes later the armed police turned up, they said they’d had reports of a suspiciouslooking person and we knew straight away who they were talking about.

“I told them it looked like he was doing laps of the lake and that he should be coming around shortly.

“The police ordered him to put the sword down and confronted him.

“They had a chat with him and apparently he was trying out a new outfit and he was walking around the lake to get used to the weight.

“The police were good as gold and even had a picture with him.”

A spokeswoman for South Wales Police later said: “Officers were deployed to the scene, where they located a young man in fancy dress carrying a toy sword. No criminal offences were committed and the man was given suitable advice.”