Police stormed an innocent Wimbledon man’s home dragging him away in handcuffs in front of his five-year-old son.

Surveyor Jonathan Abbott’s family watched in horror as he was taken from his East Road home by five non-uniformed policemen, at 7am last Thursday to a police station 50 miles away.

The bungling officers, now under investigation, held the innocent 43-year-old in a cell for more than five hours, only disclosing details of the burglary he was wrongly accused of during an interview.

He said he was told he had impersonated a police officer and burgled a house in Hertfordshire after his fingerprints – copies of which had been taken more than 20 years ago for a minor offence for which he was cautioned – were found on its front door.

It transpired he had been at the property days earlier to conduct a survey and was at a party in Oxfordshire with his wife and 300 guests when the alleged crime happened.

Mr Abbott said: “Five of them came in and arrested me without even reading me my rights.

“These guys were absolute thugs.

“I asked why was I being arrested and they said I was being taken to the police station.

"How can they do this? It’s a total invasion of my civil liberties.

"The whole ordeal has left me absolutely traumatised.”

Officers apologised for the mistake and finally let him go more than seven hours after the arrest.

But they still insisted he catch a train back to Wimbledon and pay for the £12 ticket out of his own pocket.

Mr Abbott, who is referring the matter to the IPCC, added: “It’s just your worst nightmare. I got back and didn’t want to sleep. Instead I spent the night crying in my wife’s arms.

“It’s also had an impact on my little boy. None of this would have happened if they’d just done a little bit of investigation.

“Their whole behaviour was completely out of order.”

A spokeswoman for Hertfordshire Police confirmed the arrest and that Mr Abbott was taken to Hatfield for questioning.

She added: “We take all complaints very seriously and will be looking into the matter further. At this stage we cannot comment any further.”