Armed police raid hotel after Harry Potter fan with wand is mistaken for knifeman

‘Are you being Sirius?’ the suspected offender was practicing innocent wizardry

Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter with wand in hand (Warner Bros Pictures)

Armed police officers scrambled to a hotel this weekend responding to reports of a man with a “large knife” in the building – only to find he was a Harry Potter fan, armed only with a wand.

The hotel in Enderby, near Leicester, was raided by armed officers on Sunday morning. PC Nick Ward said: “I attended a large hotel in Enderby this morning with a number of firearms officers, following a report of a male inside near the lifts carrying “a large knife”. Following enquiries we quickly established that it was a Harry Potter fan with a wand.

“Thankfully no harm was caused to any resident and there was no sign of ‘Voldermort’.”

Voldemort star Ralph Fiennes in Harry Potter 20th anniversary reunion trailer (Sky/Warner Bros Pictures)

Facebook users were quick to see the funny side, with Letasha Mone Noonan writing: “Are you being Sirius?!” Mark James Smith added: “EXPECTO PATROL-MAN”.

It is not every day officers get to attend funny incidents, but amusing “offences” are reported from time to time. In 2023, officers were relieved a “lifeless body” found in a farmer’s field turned out to be a scarecrow. Police had responded to reports from a passenger who spotted the figure from a train window.

PC Christopher Windsor-Beck told the BBC at the time he was relieved the suspected corpse was a fallen scarecrow. “Obviously, we have to treat that with urgency as you never know if it is somebody who does need help,” he told BBC Radio Lincolnshire.

The officers who attended the scene described the scarecrow as well-dressed, sporting workman’s trousers paired with a puffer jacket.

The caller was apologetic when she realised she had been mistaken, PC Windsor-Beck told the broadcaster, but he insisted she did the right thing. “You just never know if it’s a farmer out in a field who needs help, or a walker, or a missing person,” he said.