Solar powered gnome in trouble!

[Shirley]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/5330538.stm

Arrest threat over police gnome

Police have taken a dim view of a man's glowing garden gnome and threatened him with arrest unless he removes it.
The solar-powered policeman figure stands sentinel in the garden of Gordon MacKillop's home in Treovis, near Liskeard.

His neighbour, former policeman John McLean, says the gnome is annoying and upsets buyers viewing his home.

Now police have served Mr MacKillop with a notice for "placing a garden gnome with intent to cause harassment".

Mr MacKillop, 46, was woken in the night by two officers who warned him that the gnome was offensive to his neighbours.

The notice, under the Protection From Harassment Act 1997, also accuses Mr MacKillop of intimidating potential buyers of Mr McLean's £209,000 cottage.

Mr McLean has told officers that the garden gnome, which comes complete with police dog and solar light, was in an "annoying position".

Mr MacKillop denied having harassed house-hunters viewing his neighbour's property.

Mr MacKillop, a marine surveyor at Devonport Dockyard, said: "When you hear a knock at the door at quarter to midnight you don't expect to be served with that.

"I was absolutely fuming. I thought there had been an accident in the family."

Mr MacKillop said he bought the gnome to deter criminals, after his motorcycle was stolen from his drive.

"It just happened that it had a police uniform on," he said.

"I'm not having the police telling me what type of garden gnome I can have in my garden.

"This is a standard gnome I bought from a retail store. If they are considered to be harassing they should be withdrawn from sale."

A Devon and Cornwall Police spokeswoman said: "This isn't just a petty issue. This has been ongoing for two or three years."

Mr McLean was unavailable for comment.

[Boots]

Oh, that is just flat out funny!


ROFLMAO


Far out. People are such good value. Where can I get me one of those?

[baldowrie]

shot the thing..there is no good gnome like a dead one!



I just like to say I really do love gnomes, and would under no circumstances consider smashing any I see with a lump hammer.....[can I uncrossed my fingers yet?

[funkypixie]

Unbelievable!

We had a sad and slightly broken gnome in the garden when we moved into our last house. In a moment of madness we decided that instead of a housewarming party we'd have a gnome-smashing party. I really wish we hadn't.

For the next 2-3 yrs we were given gnomes of every shape, size and description. On one occasion we arrived home to find 103 (yes, one hundred and three) gnomes 'living' in and around the garden. Another time I opened my briefcase at a meeting with a major client to find one of the 7 dwarves staring back at me. It was 8 inches high and hard to ignore.

Despite all of these gnomes I never once considered calling the police! LOL. Funny that...

Anna x

[Wombat]

Love it Anna!

[digiveg]

Once when double-digging part of the veg plot in our garden in California I hit what seemed at first to be a large rock. Eventually I managed to unearth...a concrete garden gnome. I couldn't believe it - it was nearly 2 feet down in what I thought was basically unused land. I never managed to figure out where it came from.

It travelled around with us wherever we lived in the US, after that.

It was last seen hiding in the floral border of a buddhist retreat centre near Santa Cruz...

[hedgewizard]

OM MANI PADME GNOME...

[cat]

haven't they got any REAL criminals to catch?