Payout for family in police raid blunder (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Payout for family in police raid blunder

POLICE have paid compensation to a family whose home was mistakenly raided by officers.

Butcher Gavin Hollands and his wife, Dawn, both 33, were asleep when officers hammered on their front door early one morning last November.

The father-of-three, who was wearing only his boxer shorts and a T-shirt, said he was confronted by a squad of officers.

A search warrant was produced and he was ushered into the living room where he was grilled for 15 minutes.

But the police were looking for a previous occupant of the house in Walter Close, The Prinnels, which the Hollands had moved into three months earlier.

The family received a written apology from the police two weeks aftger the raid.

Today the Hollands declined to comment about the compensation or say how much it was.

Last month Det Insp James Vaughan, who led the inquiry, said that the raid on November 25 was planned at short notice, in the thick of the inquiry.

Chief Inspector Adrian Griffiths, of Swindon Police, said: "I can confirm that following negotiations with M. and Mrs Hollands, Wiltshire Police has agreed to pay a small out of court settlement to them. This sum includes their legal costs and is made without admission of liability."