Armed police arrest man in hotel swoop

Annabel Williams • Last updated 23 Oct 2008 11:45 0 Comments

ARMED Scotland Yard officers swooped on a Reading town centre hotel and arrested a man wanted in connection with a major inquiry.

Plain-clothed Metropolitan Police officers wearing body armour surrounded The George Hotel in King Street last Thursday afternoon, and kept watch on everyone entering or leaving before moving in.

They seized a young man inside the hotel's LV Lounge and he was put into a police car and driven off along Minster Street in the direction of Reading police station.

Other officers then moved in and could be seen searching the lounge, probing behind pictures and inside light fittings and ventilation grilles using mirrors on rods.

A message from the hotel management on the door of the bar said it was closed "due to unavoidable circumstances" and, apologising for any inconvenience, said it would be open again for breakfast on Friday morning.

One onlooker told the Chronicle: "The Met had a minibus parked round the back, near The Oracle. They must have been a firearms squad because they were all sporting baseball caps, which is their trademark.

"Round the front there were numerous CID types carrying white armoured vests.

"They were definitely all Met officers because they were thanking a couple of uniformed Thames Valley Police officers for their support.

"The suspect was young, maybe in his 20s, and he was put into the back of a Thames Valley Police car which took off in the direction of Reading nick."

Reading police referred all inquiries to the Metropolitan Police where spokesman Andrew Spencer would only say: "A man was arrested in connection with an ongoing inquiry and taken to a west London police station.

"He has been bailed to a date in November pending further enquiries."

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This article appeared in Reading Chronicle 23 Oct 08

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