JOIN USLorretta Cole, 47, wanted to teach her neighbour's children a lesson after the ball repeatedly landed on her property and even damaged her car. She retrieved the ball from in front of her home in Baddesley Close, Hampshire, and refused to give it back when asked by the father of the children, the Telegraph reported.
Cole was then persuaded by police, on three occasions, to return the ball. When she refused, police detained and interviewed her at Lyndhurst police station.
Cole later said that at the police station she was detained for five hours while they questioned her, clicked her photographs and took DNA swabs and fingerprints. She was later released on bail.
"I couldn't believe it. I asked the police if I give the ball back, could I be given a reassurance that they speak to the parents. I wasn't given an assurance and it was left at that," Cole told the Southern Daily Echo newspaper.
A police spokesperson said police officers visited Cole three times to get the ball returned but on each occasion she was "obstructive" and refused. "The suspect was obstructive towards police and refused to return the ball."
Cole had to spend five hours at the police station because she could not arrange for a solicitor to be present, the spokesperson said, adding that the DNA swabs, fingerprints and photographs were part of police policy whenever someone is arrested.
The ball was seized by police as evidence.