An antiques collector was left horrified after he was woken up by police at his door who asked whether they can see inside a baby's coffin that he had in his home.
John Long, 68, is a self-confessed horror lover and has a huge array of quirky and unique things in his Killingworth home that he's bought over the years. However, on Thursday morning he was mortified when officers turned up at his door after someone reported the fact he had a baby's coffin in his home to the police.
He had to take the officers upstairs to his bedroom and open the coffin to prove there was nothing untoward inside describing the situation as "totally embarrassing". John said he was told by his neighbours that the police came to his house the day before and said he had a full day of "stress" as he wondered what they wanted.
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The grandad-of-three said: "I'm a collector of antiques and I'm a huge horror fan so I have lots of different things in my house. Some people may say I shouldn't have that kind of thing in my house, but no one usually sees it but me.
"I came back after being out and two neighbours had told me the police had been knocking on my door asking for me. I was so stressed waiting for them to come back, wondering what they were here about.
"Then at 7.50am on Thursday morning I was woken up by the police at my door, my heart was racing even though I expected them to come back but I didn't know what it was about.
"The coffin was in the corner of my bedroom and I had to open it to show them what was inside. There was a doll in there and they had a look inside and were quite happy with it so they left. The officer was lovely but it was totally embarrassing."
John said the incident has been really upsetting for him and said he "couldn't sleep" due to the stress it caused him.
He said: "The whole thing has got me really upset, I couldn't sleep at all last night. I just thought what a carry-on, there has been all this trouble for nothing. I've been made to feel like a bad person.
"It's just caused so much stress and heartache, it's been awful. I didn't know what to do or who to speak to about it. I just feel so offended. I'm still really upset about it, it's got me totally distressed."
A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: "We can confirm we attended an address in Killingworth following a report of a suspicious item that resembled a coffin inside.
"Officers attended and were satisfied there was nothing untoward. We would like to thank those who contacted the police and made the report in good faith."
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