Armed response from Met Police was 'robbery related'

Force gives scant details of incident which brought armed officers to Hungerford street

POLICE have declined to give details of an operation in which officers with guns were on the streets of Hungerford, just yards from a school.

On Thursday, December 13, our website Newburytoday.co.uk reported that a police armed response unit was involved in a dramatic, pre-dawn operation.

Officers, some of them armed, later stood guard by a silver car with a shattered window in Fairview Road as children walked to nearby Hungerford Primary School.

One resident said they saw a man kneeling on the pavement, apparently under arrest, at around 6am and that several unmarked police vehicles were involved.

Thames Valley Police spokesman James Williams said the force had seized a car on behalf of the Metropolitan Police.

Met Police spokesman Alan Crockford said at the time that the incident related to an ongoing operation, “not terrorism”.

It is not known whether the operation was a local incident or whether anyone was subsequently charged or brought to justice.

Following repeated requests for an update, another Metropolitan Police spokesman, Chioma Dijeh, said: “This was a Met operation relating to robbery.

“That’s as much as I can tell you.”