A disabled pensioner dialled 999 after finding a blood-stained sword dumped in his garden – and was told police were too BUSY to help.
Stuart Ingram, 85, also says the police call handler put the phone down on him when he reported finding the 2ft-long weapon.
The widower, who has six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, has blasted West Midlands Police after he was told to hand the sword into cops himself.
The blunder comes after Home Office figures confirm the West Midlands has the highest increase in knife crime outside of London.
Mr Ingram was tending his flower beds in the front garden of his home in Dudley, West Mids., on Monday (1/10) afternoon when he spotted the sword.
The retired foundry business owner said: “I took a watering can, went to the front drive, watered the plants and as I turned round I could see this sword underneath the hedge.
“I was shocked.
“I picked it up carefully by the blade so as not to get my fingerprints on the handle.
“I could see blood caked on the bladed edge and my first thought was it could have been used to stab someone.
“I brought it back into the house and just laid it on the table and thought ‘what should I do?’
“I read about the police being keen to crack down on knife crime and thought this might help solve a crime or at least take a dangerous weapon out of circulation.
“I thought the police have got to know, so I dialled 999 and asked to speak to police.
“A lady answered the phone, and I explained what I’d found.
“She said ‘can you wait a minute, I will find someone to talk to you’.
“This chap came on the phone. I don’t know if he was a policeman.
“He said ‘what’s your problem?’. He was very, very short with me.
“I said ‘my problem is I’ve just found a 2ft knife in my hedge. Can you get a policeman to come pick it up?
“He said ‘no, we can’t do that – we are far too busy’.
“I said ‘what?’. He said ‘we are far too busy’.
“I said ‘look, what can I do?’. He said ‘the best thing is for you to bring it down to the police station’.
“I told him I can’t walk without a zimmer frame. I said I can’t take it out in the road.
“He said ‘you carried it in from the hedge didn’t you?’
“I was just about to tell him my address when he just put the phone down.
“It was rude and annoying. I have never been so annoyed.
“It’s made me nervous. I don’t know if someone put it there to pick it up later.
“My wife Babette just passed away in May and I am alone. I slept with all the lights on in the back of the house.
“With every noise I heard, I was getting more nervous.
“I don’t know what I am going to do with it.
“It could have been used in a crime.
“I did everything I thought I should do.
“The police were a waste of time in this case.
“Now I’m stuck with a deadly weapon which could have been used by criminals sitting my front room and the police couldn’t care less.”
