POLICE have been accused of heavy handedness after arresting two young boys who were playing with toy guns. One of the boys was held in a cell for five hours.

Liam Spencer, 11, and his friend, Luke Johnson, 13, were singing the James Bond theme tune as they rolled around on the floor at a youth club “shooting” at each other in a mock fight.

Liam, who is 4ft 8in, was dressed as Santa Claus and Luke was wearing a Frankenstein’s Monster mask.

But as the pair walked home, a motorist who saw them carrying their silver-coloured plastic guns called the police.

A woman police officer and a special constable later turned up at their homes to investigate the complaint.

Both sets of parents accepted that their children should not have been waving the 99p toy guns in the street and thought that that was the end of the matter.

But later that evening police called both sets of parents again and told them to take the boys to the police station where they would be formally arrested.

Two days later Debbie Spencer accompanied Liam to the station where he was arrested for possession of an imitation firearm with intent to cause alarm or distress.

Liam and his mother were then locked in a cell for five hours before being interviewed. However, Mrs Spencer, 31, refused to accept the police caution because she didn’t believe that her son had done anything wrong. He was later released without charge, as was Luke, who was held in a cell for about half an hour.

The parents are furious about the way in which the police handled the matter. They say that it was a serious overreaction.

They also accused the force of failing to tackle genuine crime in their home town of Yeovil, Somerset.

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