A Nottingham on Trent student was arrested following his choice of costume as the super-soldier, Rambo. He dressed up in the Rambo attire for a friend’s 21st fancy dress party with Combat trousers, a black string vest, face paint and the weapon of alarm; a plastic knife.
Upon approaching a friend’s home in Lenton after the party, police handcuffed and imprisoned the unsuspecting student for four hours and confiscated the plastic toy before he was released and issued with an £80 fine for public disorder. Anthony Radley battled against the charge, deeming the fiasco as ‘ridiculous.’ He says; ‘I was walking up to a friend’s house and just as I was walking into her driveway the policeman said ‘Get your hands where I can see them’. I turned around and I thought it was a joke at first but then realised it wasn’t.’ ‘I didn’t realise what he was talking about but then I realised I had my plastic knife.’
Mr Radley was due to appear at Nottingham Magistrates Court last week to dispute his £80 fine but the Crown Court Prosecution Service has decided not to pursue the case. Radley says that ‘This is hardly going to inspire confidence in the police. I have had people come up to me and say how the whole situation is just stupid.’ A spokeswoman for the CPS said: ‘The decision to discontinue these charges has been taken because a prosecution is not needed in the public interest.’