CRIMINAL DAMAGE AT ELVASTON

Mark Shelton, security officer at Elvaston Castle, discovered a grey squirrel was pinching sandwiches from his office. Since then, Mr Shelton said he has seen the squirrel several times and it has even followed him home. He said, "Since then I have caught him in the trees following me while I'm on patrol. Then I got home and went to take my bag out of the back of my van and the squirrel jumped out and ran off up the road. I have not seen him for a couple of days now, but he knows where I live and I reckon he's watching me. Everyone has been calling him Secret Squirrel, but we're thinking of giving him a place on the team as Security Squirrel if he makes it back to the castle."

Or, maybe Derbyshire County Council will report the squirrel for criminal damage as it did with....

Secretary of the Friends of Elvaston, Graham Mansey, was accused by Derbyshire County Council of causing criminal damage to a fence at Elvaston Castle. The police said they had decided not to charge him because there was "insufficient evidence". Mr Mansey, secretary of the Friends of Elvaston action group, is now considering what action to take against the county council for pursuing the case. Mr Mansey entered Home Farm, which is not open to the public, in Elvaston, one evening to "find out exactly how much of our heritage was being scrapped."

He was asked to leave by two security men, which he said he did by jumping over the fence. However, a few weeks later Mr Mansey was contacted by police, who told him they wanted to interview him over allegations that he had made holes in the fence. Mr Mansey was arrested at St Mary's Wharf police station where he was body-searched, photographed, finger-printed, palm-printed, DNA-tested and had his mobile phone confiscated.

Mr Mansey said, "I think the County council pursued a malicious prosecution against me to try to discredit the Friends. I had expected to go in and give my version of events not be treated as if I was a criminal." A Derbyshire police spokesman added that Mr Mansey's case was dealt with according to routine procedures. A spokeswoman for Derbyshire County Council said that the authority had not been informed that the case had been dropped. She said, "We informed police and as far as we know they're investigating."

It's a bit ironic that the county council accused him of criminal damage when they have recently scrapped 7 tonnes of agricultural machinery in one skip alone which they claimed was fire damaged. Photographs exist to prove otherwise.