As the police stormed house-to-house through a tiny Somerset village for the third time, residents could have been forgiven for fearing that something heinous had happened in their close-knit community.
However, no DCI Barnaby-style sleuth was required because nothing quite so 'Midsomer' as murder had occurred to beckon the massive police response.
In what transpired to be an operation of of quite stunning overkill, someone had drawn a comic Hitler moustache on an election poster for a Tory councillor and pinned it on the village noticeboard.
Overkill;: It reads like a plot from a ditched episode of Midsomer Murders but a small Somerset village was swooped on by police three times because of a defaced council election poster
The 20 houses in Pitcombe, near Wincanton, all had their doors rapped on by officers as Avon and Somerset Police tried to unravel the great mystery of who it was that made a mockery of councillor Mike Beech.
Resident David Issitt, who was among those questioned, said the size of the police response was 'an outrageous waste of police and taxpayers money'.
'The police came to the village three times, knocking on people's doors in the evening - about 20 properties,' he said.
'Even a policeman said they thought they were wasting their time.
'They have far better things to do than following up complaints like that.
'If my shed was broken into would I have received such a tenacious response?'
Avon and Somerset Police confirmed a complaint had been made and said it had initiated an investigation under the Public Order Act, because the posters could be deemed to cause 'harassment alarm, or distress' to an individual.
'There is no CCTV in the village, although house-to-house enquiries have been undertaken,' said a police spokesman.
'Police at Wincanton would like to hear from anyone who may have further information.'
Mr Beech, a Conservative member of South Somerset District Council and former chairman of Pitcombe Parish Council, admitted he had been 'a bit offended' by the picture and had called in the police.
'Basically the picture was put on the noticeboard and I took advice from the political hierarchy and they said it was probably best to report it,' he said.
'This is something I am trying to forget.'
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