A 12-year-old boy was charged with assault and taken before the courts - for throwing a cocktail sausage.
The boy was accused of throwing the pork snack at a 74-year-old man in Woodhouse Park, south Manchester, which the boy's mother described as an "utter joke".
She told the BBC: "They came to arrest him in my house, they took him into a police van. They took him to Elizabeth Slinger [police station], put him in a cell, took his photographs, his fingerprints, then interviewed him. "And then they decided to charge him with common assault - with a sausage.
And then the following from the Daily Mail today…
Dad told to write to MP as he cradled his thug-battered son
By LUCY BALLINGER
A father who phoned 999 when his son was knocked unconscious by a drunken thug was told to write to his MP rather than bother the police.
Businessman Pete Bayliss called after his 22-year-old son Chris was taken to hospital with a broken nose and other injuries. But police said they were too busy to investigate the attack.
Dad told to write to MP as he cradled his thug-battered son | the Daily Mail