BUNGLING DRUGS SQUAD SWOOP ON GUINEA PIG HOME

ANTI-drugs officers were convinced they had uncovered a cannabis
factory when a police helicopter detected a suspicious building.

The onboard thermal imaging -camera identified what looked like a
clear case of a heating system to cultivate the illegal weed.

But police were left glowing with embarrassment when they swooped on
Pamela Hardcastle's semi and found the family's guinea pigs Simon and
Kenny being kept warm by an electric heater.

Mrs Hardcastle, 42, was at work as a school's learning mentor when she
received a frantic call from her mother, who lives opposite her, to go
home because police had a search warrant.

Mrs Hardcastle, of Bradford, West Yorkshire, said yesterday: "They
also had a battering ram and said they would use it if I didn't return
home.

"It was unbelievable. My mum told them I had guinea pigs in the garage
and there was a heater in there to keep them warm.

"But they cut a bolt off my neighbour's gate to gain
entry."

When she rushed home, Mrs Hardcastle found six officers in three
vehicles had turned up.

She said: "It was embarrassing. People were wondering what I had been
up to. I have no criminal record. I haven't even got an unpaid bill.

"I told the police I was squeaky clean and they said they knew, but
they wanted to look in the garage.

"When I opened it up and they saw the guinea pigs, they didn't say
anything. They were in the garage two -seconds and they left."

Mrs Hardcastle said her only child Jack, 10, had named the guinea pigs
Simon and Kenny after cartoon characters in TV's South Park.

She had installed the heater to keep the pets cosy during freezing
weather before Christmas.

Mrs Hardcastle added: "It's like I've been branded a drug dealer. I
have contacted a solicitor because I am concerned I might now have a
criminal record."

Police inspector Darren Brown said: "Due to the location of the
garage, we could not make further observations without alerting the
occupants.

"On this occasion, it transpired the significant heat source coming
from the property was not connected to the production of cannabis.

"I apologise for the distress this may have caused."

Last night Mrs Hardcastle said a senior officer had visited to
apologise in person and brought a new lock for her neighbour's gate.