The post you are reporting:
Courtesy of the Times - The Keystone cops will be sued over this.
Sussex police were accused of running an “appalling” investigation into the drone disruption at Gatwick after they held an innocent couple for 36 hours despite them having a solid alibi. Paul Gait, 47, a window fitter, and his wife Elaine Kirk, 54, were arrested on Friday night on suspicion of flying drones over the airport after a tip-off from the public, and released yesterday with no further action. John Allard, Mr Gait’s boss, criticised police for failing to return his phone calls when he tried to tell them about his employee’s alibi for the three days last week when drones were reported. Mr Allard, 68, who runs Allard Double Glazing in Crowborough, where Mr Gait has worked for 17 years, said he tried to contact police after the couple were arrested on Friday night but he was unable to get through to anybody.
He said: “Obviously the police could have handled it better just by asking the who, when and where. The police have handled this absolutely appallingly, they really have. “All it would have taken was for them to call me and contact me as his employer and I could have confirmed that all day Wednesday and half the day Thursday, he was part of a three-man team installing fascia, soffit and guttering at a client’s home in Groombridge, Kent. On Friday he spent most of the day running my daughter about because she damaged one of her toes and he was ferrying her to the doctors. “I discovered on Friday evening that he had been arrested. I got on to the police yesterday [Saturday] evening, but I couldn’t get through to anybody, there was just somebody who said, ‘I’ll take notes and pass that message on.’ But they never did get back to me, there was no return contact.”
Mr Allard said that police had left Mr Gait’s house in disarray despite a “clear lack of evidence”. He said that Mr Gait, an ex-soldier and model aircraft enthusiast, did not even own a drone as he had sold his in the summer. It was only a “silly little one [that] anyone could have bought in Hamleys”.
“Sussex police have really dropped the ball on this. I have always supported the police and I like to think I always would but in this case I think they have really got it wrong.”
Mr Gait and Ms Kirk made no comment yesterday morning as they returned to their home in Crawley, five miles from the airport. Giving a statement on their behalf, Mr Allard’s daughter Gemma said: “Paul Gait and Elaine Kirk have been released without charge and no further inquiries are pending. They have been in custody for over 36 hours and we would ask that their privacy, and their family and friends’, is respected.” Family, friends and colleagues had expressed shock at the couple’s arrest.
