Father who took yob to police station for shooting his son, 12, in the head with airgun is arrested himself and kept in a cell for SEVEN hours

Stuart Pettman, 43, frogmarched the youth to a station after his son Oliver was shot three times in a park in Bexley, South London

But police arrested the businesman on suspicion of assault, after the youth falsely alleged he had been threatened with a hacksaw

Mr Pettman's 14-year-old daughter had to make her own way home from Bexleyheath police station following his arrest



Mr Pettman has decided to move his family to Singapore, saying he has had enough of 'broken Britain'

UKIP leader Nigel Farage, a friend of Mr Pettman, has written to police demanding an explanation for his arrest



Rough justice: Oliver Pettman, 12, was shot in with the head with an airgun. When his father took the yob responsible to a police station, he was arrested

A businessman was arrested and held in a cell for seven hours after he frogmarched a yob to a police station for shooting his son with an airgun.



Stuart Pettman, 43, was furious after his 12-year-old son Oliver was surrounded by older youths and shot in the head, back and leg.



Within hours, Mr Pettman had found the boy his son claimed was responsible and brought him to Bexleyheath police station, South London, to be questioned.

But he was stunned the next day when police asked him to return to the station - and then arrested him on suspicion of assault and possessing a deadly weapon.

The boy Mr Pettman had apprehended had falsely alleged that he was threatened with a hacksaw.

Mr Pettman, who runs an internet service for financial traders, said that officers treated him 'like a criminal' by photographing him, taking his fingerprints and making him give a DNA sample.



Police have told him he will not be charged, but he has decided to move his family from their £800,000 detached home in Bexley, South London, to Singapore, where he is opening a new office.

'This is typical of broken Britain, and I have just had enough,' he said. 'I work hard, I don’t break the law, I’m polite, I try to do the right thing all the time and they treated me like a criminal.'

Mr Pettman’s son Oliver was in Golden Acre Park, just yards from his home, last Saturday when he was surrounded by a gang of seven youths who stole biscuits from him and a friend.

Suffering: Oliver Pettman (left) has endured headaches and nightmares since being shot three times and, as a close-up picture of his leg shows (right), he still has scars from the attack



The group also falsely accused Oliver of being racist.



When Oliver denied he was racist, one of the thugs shot him three times with an airgun.



Mr Pettman said: 'They said to him now you’re going to be my slave and told Oliver to kiss their feet.'

When Oliver refused, they left him alone.

Later that evening, Oliver and his father were walking down a street when he spotted the youth who had shot him.

Mr Pettman insisted that the youth accompany him to Bexleyheath police station, where the boy was arrested and questioned before being released.



Mr Pettman returned to the police station the following day after officers called him to say they wanted to ask a few more questions. Shortly after he got there, he was arrested.

He said: 'I couldn’t understand it. I had done everything I could to help them, to get justice for my boy, and this is how I was repaid.

Attack: Oliver Pettman was shot in the head, back and leg after being approached by a group of youths in Golden Acre Park, in Bexley, South London

Allegations: Oliver said he was attacked in the park after a group of youths accused him of being racist

'It was very deceptive of the police. I thought I was only going to be there a couple of minutes so I’d even taken my 14-year-old daughter Stephanie with me.



'They ushered her into the waiting room and took me into another office and that’s when they told me I was under arrest.



'My son had a doctor’s appointment about his head where he had been shot. No one else could take him. I told them this but it didn’t seem important to them.

'It was all very intimidating. For someone who’s not got a criminal record I didn’t know what the hell was going on.

'I just couldn’t believe they’d took the word of someone who’d shot my son over and above me and the fact my son might have had a head trauma and I couldn’t take him to be looked at by a doctor.'

Oliver's father, Stuart, frogmarched the boy his son claimed was responsible to Bexleyheath Police Station (above), but the 43-year-old was himself arrested when he was asked to return to the station the next day

After her father was arrested, Stephanie had to make her own way home.



Oliver has been too scared to leave the house and suffers from headaches and nightmares. He is awaiting a doctor's assessment of his head wound.

The case has enraged the leader of the UK Independence Party, Nigel Farage, who says he has known Mr Pettman for 25 years.

Mr Farage has written to the Metropolitan Police's borough commander for Bexley, Chief Superintendent Victor Olisa, demanding an explanation for Mr Pettman's arrest.

In the letter, Mr Farage alleges that police searched Mr Pettman's home for 'weapons' and studied CCTV footage of the moment the businessman asked the teenager to accompany him to the police station.

Mr Farage wrote: 'People rightly feel let down by a justice system which treats criminals as if they were victims and victims like they are the perpetrators of crime.'

Outraged: UKIP leader Nigel Farage has written to the Metropolitan Police asking for an explanation for Mr Pettman's arrest

In a statement, Scotland Yard said that, at about 4.15pm on August 18, officers in Bexley were approached by a 12-year-old boy who alleged that he had been threatened and shot by a youth with a BB gun. The officers searched the area, but found no trace of the gunman.

'Shortly after 8pm that day a 43-year-old man brought a 14-year-old boy to Bexleyheath police station and alleged he was a suspect in the shooting and threatening allegation,' the statement continued.

'The 14-year-old boy [A] was arrested by officers on suspicion of ABH and possession of an imitation firearm.

'Under interview "A" alleged that the 43-year-old man had assaulted him and was in possession of an offensive weapon. A separate investigation into this allegation was started.

'On Sunday, August 19, the 43-year-old man was asked to attend Bexleyheath police station.

'Upon attendance he was arrested on suspicion of common assault and possession of an offensive weapon.

'The 43-year-old man was subsequently released with no further action.'

Police said a second boy, aged 15, was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of ABH and possessing an imitation firearm and later bailed.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: 'The Metropolitan Police Service is committed to serving and protecting all sections of the public.