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Businessman wrongly arrested after officer posed as him (2024)

A businessman was wrongly arrested in front of his seven-year-old son and thrown in a cell after a police officer's 'threatening' prank call went wrong.

Private security boss Benji Churchill spent almost two hours behind bars after PC Benjamin Magee's trick - pretending to be him - was taken seriously by a colleague, a misconduct hearing heard.

But PC Magee claimed that the arrest would not have happened had other officers who knew the call was a joke acted sooner.

The situation unfolded when PC Magee pretended to be Mr Churchill, 35, and phoned another constable on the Isle of Wight - who previously had 'dealings' with the businessman - on a night shift and the officer, named only as 'PC X', thought it was genuine.