A POLICE boss nearly found himself on the wrong side of the law after a resident thought he spotted him stealing a 30 foot community Christmas tree.

Staff at a convenience store in Penketh called 999 on Saturday morning after they saw four suspicious figures wrestling with the tree outside the library.

Two squad cars rushed to the scene and blocked the would-be thieves’ exit.

But one of the suspects looked familiar.

Cheshire Police and Crime Commissioner David Keane and his fellow Penketh councillors, Linda and Allin Dirir, dressed in hats and gloves, had just taken delivery of the tree and were struggling to put it up when officers arrived on the scene.

Mr Keane said: “One police car screeched up on each side of us. I thought it was our local PCSO at first because sometimes he does come along to help, but it wasn’t. We kind of carried on, I said to them ‘aren’t you going to help?’

“But they thought we were stealing the tree. I asked ‘how are we going to get away with it?’ – my car is much too small. I thought it was a wind up.”

When Mr Keane took off his hat, the officers quickly realised their mistake.

A police spokesman confirmed they had made an attempt to save Christmas from a suspected gang of thieves.

“Officers attended and quickly established that in fact the group was showing some festive goodwill and preparing to decorate the community Christmas tree – including our own Police and Crime Commissioner David Keane, in his role as a local councillor,” said the spokesman.

“Thankfully Christmas wasn’t ruined, but we thank the member of the public for alerting us and we would always urge anyone who sees anything suspicious to call us on 101.”

Mr Keane was delighted with the police officers' hard work: “This is a great story of the police attempting to save Christmas and a really quick response from two squad cars,” he said.

“I want people to know that three local councillors do get their hands dirty – I think people assume it’s council workmen but we put it up ourselves.

“I love Christmas, it’s a great community time of year.”

A Christmas Carol event will take place beside the tree on Honiton Way on December 21 between 4pm and 6pm as part of Project Penketh Christmas and the events team will be delivering a festive card to every resident in the ward.