TAVISTOCK’s former Big Issue seller got more than he bargained for when he came back to the town to meet old friends – ending up spending a night in police cells.

Neil Stout, 62, who is homeless, says he is “seeking redress” after being ejected from Wetherspoons pub the Queen’s Head on West Street last Sunday.

After being handcuffed by police and sprayed with pepper spray, he was arrested and taken to Charles Cross Police Station in Plymouth in a police van where he spent a night in the cells.

Next day, he was questioned with a solicitor present, about allegations of being drunk and disorderly, assaulting another man, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer.

He denies all the allegations. The following day he was released on police bail without charge, pending further enquiries, but the police confiscated his phone.

He insists he was not causing trouble on the day in question, Sunday, June 29, at the Queen’s Head, and had been having a quiet pint when asked to leave by the manager. Another customer then reportedly intervened.

“This guy came left field, put his hands on me and continued to forcible eject me from the place. I resisted and said get your hands off me. In the end I threw him off me.

“Then I saw the police coming into the beer garden. I turned to them and said ‘I have just been assaulted by this man’. That is when they put some handcuffs around my wrists.”

He has bruises on his wrists which he says were caused by the handcuffs.

He wants to thank a man he described as a ‘Good Samaritan’ who calmed the situation down.

“The guy said, is that your money?” and picked up coins I’d dropped, tucking them into my pocket, giving me a calming gesture. I would love to meet up with him to say thank you.”

“I made no threats. I have been here six years and I have never been drunk and disorderly. I’m a lovely guy.”

Police have declined to comment as proceedings are active since an arrest has been made.