Feud over toy lands brothers in court

A BITTER and long-running dispute was aired in court yesterday after a police officer arrested his own brother for swearing at him after they clashed over a rare and valuable Thunderbirds toy.

Paul Tatton, 39, appeared on a charge of threatening behaviour but Nottingham magistrates dismissed the case after hearing of the feud. Mr Tatton is now planning to sue his younger brother, PC Roy Lewis-Tatton, for false arrest.

The court was told that the feud started 10 years ago after Mr Tatton accused his brother, a toy collector, of trying to get Mr Tatton's young son to swap a Dinky toy of Thunderbird Two, worth about pounds 200, for a cheap Action Man. The men had barely spoken since, until an incident outside Mr Tatton's home in Bilborough, Nottinghamshire, last October which culminated in the arrest.

PC Lewis-Tatton, of Long Eaton, Derbyshire, told the court that he arrested his brother because Mr Tatton had struck his own son, Carl, now 18, and threatened himself and a fellow officer. But Mr Tatton said: "I think Roy was using his position as a police officer to have a go at me about previous family feuds. I can't see us being reconciled after this."

Nottinghamshire Police confirmed that Mr Tatton's arrest was being investigated after an official complaint.