Arrest ye merry gentlemen

DRESSED in Victorian cloaks, carrying lanterns and singing Christmas carols, they could have been plucked from the pages of a Dickens novel.

But when the door opened at the house they were serenading, the exchanges were anything but festive.

The strains of We Wish You A Merry Christmas turned to shouts and screams as the nine men and women barged their way inside and revealed themselves to be officers on a drugs raid.

Their cloaks concealed stabproof vests, their hand muffs, CS gas canisters, and the friendly mutt accompanying them turned out to be a sniffer dog.

Within minutes, a man and woman had been arrested and £400 worth of cocaine seized.

Yesterday, Dorset Police explained why the more familiar drugs raid tactic of breaking down the door at dawn was judged unsuitable for this particular case. PC David Harrison, who took part in the raid in Weymouth, said: ‘The nature of the property meant that it was very difficult for officers to approach without being seen.

‘ We came up with the idea of dressing up as carol singers as it would not raise any suspicions given the time of year.

‘ We borrowed the costumes from a local amateur dramatics society and had a couple of officers dress as Victorian men with top hats and tails and cravats.

‘The women officers wore traditional dresses and cloaks and had their hands in muffs in which they were also holding CS gas spray just in case.

‘ We spent about five minutes beforehand rehearsing We Wish You A Merry Christmas. None of us had particularly good voices but we were game. It wasn’t until we reached the third verse that the door eventually opened.

‘The woman who answered said she would give us a pound to go away and that was when we informed her we were the police and went straight in.

‘The operation went very well.’