A mum was left red-faced after cops swooped on her home following reports of a 'dead body' that turned out to be an old Halloween prop.
Cara Louise had a dummy corpse wrapped up in bin bags for a Halloween party she threw last year and, fair play to her, it was convincing enough that three people called the police after it was spotted in her garden this week.
The 'corpse' had been stashed away in her garden, but Cara moved it out when she was doing a spot of gardening recently and forgot to put it back.
The next thing she knew, ten police officers swarmed her home in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, after seeing it and mistaking it for the real deal.
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Cara, a mum-of-two, said: "I arrived home from the school run to see two police cars driving away from outside my house.
"I get out of the car to my neighbour standing there in which I ask jokingly 'What have you done?'"
"Then I was told they were all at my house as three people had called in to report a dead body."
Awkward.
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Cara explained that she normally kept the prop behind her wheelie bins, adding: "But today I moved him out to clear the garden and forgot to put him away.
"Ten minutes later another police car pulls up in which I had to explain I have not killed anyone and I will put him away in a secure place.
"All whilst my five-year old stood telling them how much he loves Halloween and we can't get rid of the body because he loves it.
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"It certainly made me and my neighbours laugh.
"Luckily the police did see the funny side, all 10 of them."
She continued: "I said, 'Who has legs that short?' The policeman said, 'You might have cut them.'
"I said, 'Oh, did you check my bins?'
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"They looked a bit concerned and asked, 'Should we?'
"I was asked to chop it up and get rid of it to which I said, 'No, I'll just put him in the shed with the others until next Halloween'."
Issuing a warning to other horror-lovers, Cara joked: "I have a tip for all parents who go all out at Halloween like myself - dispose of props or put them away safely."
Bedfordshire Police have been approached for comment.
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