A FURIOUS bust-up was sparked after a mistaken arrest in a maternity unit.Family members were enraged after a police officer tried to arrest Thomas Crowley in Ipswich Hospital.

A FURIOUS bust-up was sparked after a mistaken arrest in a maternity unit.

Family members were enraged after a police officer tried to arrest Thomas Crowley in Ipswich Hospital.

His 19-year-old sister Bridie was tending to her newborn baby in the intensive care unit and fretting over her other son, who was being treated after falling into a pond.

Bridie and Anthony Crowley, of Bader Close, Trina Crowley, of Shackleton Road and Margaret Chaplin, of Packard Avenue, were charged with obstructing a police officer and causing harassment.

But the charges against the Ipswich family were dropped after South East Suffolk Magistrates Court heard about the police blunder that sparked the bust-up.

Gareth Davies, prosecuting, said a policeman on duty at Ipswich Hospital spotted Thomas Crowley going to visit his sister.

He was well known to the policeman, who mistakenly believed he was breaking bail terms by being at the hospital and followed him to the maternity ward in an attempt to arrest him.

The rest of his family already in the ward did not take kindly to this and a row erupted, leading to their arrest.

Mr Davies said Thomas Crowley had to be accompanied by a member of the youth offending team as part of his bail.

The officer tried to make the arrest after failing to spot the chaperone.

Mr Davies said: "It is not so much a comedy of errors, but certainly there were misunderstandings on the part of the police officer, who thought he was acting in good faith and went to arrest Thomas Crowley."

Charges were dropped by magistrates, but they ordered all defendants to be bound over to keep the peace for a period of three months.