A NIGHT out in Bournemouth ended in terror for a man who claims crowds watched as he was wrongly arrested on suspicion of rape.

Traumatised Tom Gardiner told the Daily Echo how he was handcuffed outside Walkabout on Old Christchurch Road at about 1 am on Saturday.

His “living nightmare” was to continue for another eight-and-a-half hours.

After being taken to Bournemouth police station, his personal possessions were seized and he was put in a cell while a search warrant was executed at his family home in Kent, he claimed.

The 21-year-old plumber said: “A club security guard asked me to step outside where there was about a dozen waiting policemen.

“One officer looked at a photograph and said ‘yes, that’s him’ before informing me they were arresting me for rape and putting me into the back of a police van.

“My shocked parents were woken by local police with a warrant to search my annexe for evidence relating to a sexual offence. They were also informed I was in custody.

“At about 9.30 am, an officer told me I had been arrested in error and they now realised that I was sought only as a potential witness.”

After making a witness statement in connection with a sex assault in Old Christchurch Lane in the early hours of Sunday, January 16, police drove Tom back to his cliff-top hotel.

He said: “I’ve never been in trouble before and this experience has blighted my life. My parents are also really shaken up.

“I’ve had to get medication to help me sleep and I want the people of Bournemouth to know that I am absolutely innocent of such an appalling crime.”

Tom’s solicitor Jeremy Cowley said his client was planning to sue Dorset police for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and defamation, adding: “I think he has a strong case.”

A Dorset police spokesman said: “At the time of arrest, from the information available to the officer, he suspected the man was involved in the alleged offence.

“As soon as it was identified that the arrested man was a witness, he was released.

“We are, of course, sorry if the wrong person has been arrested. However Dorset police has not publicised the arrest or revealed the identity of anyone arrested in relation to this incident, so the issue of damage to reputation should not arise.”

l Another man has been arrested in connection with the investigation and bailed, pending further enquiries.