FOUR students were left “traumatised” after their house was raided by police armed with tasers while they slept... by mistake.
Officers forced their way into the property in Widdicombe Way, Brighton, before realising their warrant was for previous tenants.
One of the residents said he was further “frustrated” after they quizzed him about the medical cannabis in his room, for which he had a legitimate prescription.
And he said they had to call out a locksmith to check the door was secure after the police reattached it.
Ollie Taylor, 21, awoke on Friday, September 16, to police banging on his bedroom door.
Ollie, who graduated from Brighton University this year, said: “It was my day off work so I was still asleep, it was around 8.50am.
“I sort of heard them knocking through the door and shouting ‘police’ but I thought I was having a nightmare so I rolled over in bed.
“The next thing I knew they had kicked open my door and were pointing a taser saying ‘show me your hands’.”
He said the police did the same thing to his three housemates, who are all in their early 20s. Two of them are students at the university and the third graduated with Ollie.
He said: “They held us all in bed and shouted ‘show us your hands, show us your hands’ and that was when they asked us how long we’d lived there.
“I told them we’d only moved in three weeks ago and very quickly they were like ‘oh…have you got any ID?’
“We all showed them our IDs and then they realised they had the wrong people, they started sort of chuckling about it.”
Ollie was then asked if he had any drugs in his room, to which he replied yes, his privately prescribed cannabis for mental health purposes.
He said the officer questioned whether his prescription was legitimate.
Ollie lodged a formal complaint to Sussex Police about the raid and the querying over his medical cannabis.
He said: “It’s just so frustrating because I told them I’m prescribed it for anxiety and depression and they kept making me feel like a criminal.”
The force sent a formal letter to Ollie confirming they were not pursuing the issue due to the small amount found.
The letter also said: “I am afraid that police officers cannot be expected to know about every aspect of every law which affects UK citizens.”
Sussex Police have confirmed that the raid was conducted through a lawfully obtained warrant under the Misuse of Drugs Act.
This was based on “intelligence around criminality linked to the property”.
A spokesman said: “Officers entered the property using a non-destructive method, causing no damage to the front door.
“Once inside, it was swiftly established that the residents had only recently moved into the property and had no connection to its previous occupiers.”
He said the property was not searched and the occupants "were not detained at any point".
He confirmed that after checking Ollie’s prescription documentation, the cannabis was left in his possession.
The spokesman added: “After leaving the address, officers conducted follow-up enquiries into the legitimacy of the cannabis and the resident was informed no further action would be taken.
“It is standard policing procedure to investigate the source and legality of controlled substances.”
The spokesman concluded: “Sussex Police has apologised to the occupiers for the inconvenience and intrusion.
“We will continue to develop and act on intelligence as part of our commitment to bringing criminals to justice and safeguarding vulnerable people.”
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