A history teacher was wrongfully arrested and held in custody for over seven hours after confiscating her daughters' iPads.
Vanessa Brown, 50, was detained on March 26 following claims she had "stolen" two tablets traced to her mother's house in Cobham, Surrey.
Surrey Police later acknowledged the devices belonged to her daughters and she had merely confiscated them in a bid to make them do their homework.
Brown was taken to Staines police station where she was searched, fingerprinted and had custody photos taken - before being held in a cell for several hours.
Brown was taken to Staines police station where she was searched, fingerprinted and had custody photos taken for 'stealing' iPads (file photo)
PA
It wasn't until midnight that she was returned to her mother's house - nearly 12 hours after officers first arrived.
She told LBC she suffered a sleepless night and was left in a "catatonic state" by the experience that left her feeling traumatised.
She recalled: "At no point did they [the officers] think to themselves: 'Oh, this is a little bit of an overreaction for a moment, confiscating temporarily her iPads and popping over to her mum's to have a coffee'. It was just a complete overreaction.
"It was thoroughly unprofessional. They were speaking to my mother, who is in her 80s, like she was a criminal.
"They were able to send police cars to my children's school and to arrest me. I know people are making reports of thefts, of assaults and very violent crimes in and around our neighbourhood - and they're not getting a response for days.
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"I cannot get to the bottom of why [my arrest] was done in such a quick turnaround."
Police also sent officers to her children's school, pulling her daughter out of class.
Brown's ordeal was compounded when she learned of her bail conditions, which would have prevented her from seeing her children on Mother's Day.
Questions are now being raised over the length of time it took for officers to determine no further action was needed, which took over 24 hours from her arrest.
Former Police and Crime Commissioner Anthony Stansfield condemned Surrey Police for their handling of Brown's case - while ex-Met Police Detective Peter Bleksley labelled the force "w*****s".
Surrey Police said they were originally alerted to the potential theft by a man in his 40s (file photo)
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"It seems to me incompetence and a certain amount of overzealousness at a junior level, which the local inspector should have put a rapid stop to," Stansfield said.
"I would hope that the chief constable goes and apologises personally to the poor lady."
Surrey Police said they were originally alerted to the potential theft by a man in his 40s, and attended a property where the occupant denied knowledge of the iPads' whereabouts.
A spokesman said: "A tracking device on the iPads showed that they were at the address and a 50-year-old woman from Cobham was arrested on suspicion of theft."
Following further enquiries, officers discovered the iPads belonged to Brown's children and she was entitled to confiscate them.
