Ex-soldier Sam Tidd had the shock of his life after scaring a neighbour's cat out of his house when armed police came knocking on his door.

The 64-year-old granddad saw red upon catching Tiggy messing up his bed linen after the mischievous cat had sneaked through the catflap used by his own two cats at his Rankshill Road home in Borehamwood.

"I was so angry that I took hold of a starting pistol and started firing blanks to scare her off. I went to the shops for an hour and when I returned my house was under siege from the Met Police's armed response unit!" said the startled widower, who is also deaf and unaware of the terrific din firing his pistol had made.

"Someone had phoned the police after hearing the shots. I was of course invited back to the police station, but I must say I saw the funny side of it."

Inspector Alun Goode of Borehamwood police said all was well in the end but stressed the seriousness of firearms. "With any incident of this nature, we turn to officers who are specially trained and equipped with firearms," he said. "As it happened no-one was injured. It was lucky this chap came back when he did as we were about to break down his door."

However, the game wasn't yet over for Tiggy who decided to add one more insult to Mr Tidd's injuries. As Mr Tidd explained: "I returned home only to find that the cat had been back and stolen my frozen chicken legs left out for my evening meal. He was sitting in my garden with the evidence beside him!"

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