Dad buys iPad from Tesco, receives box full of clay, is arrested

It seems it’s that silly time of year when people try to buy iPads but receive worthless junk.

A father who bought an iPad from Tesco returned home only to find the box was full of clay and iPad-less. So he went back to the store to complain, only to be arrested.

47-year-old businessman Colin Marsh paid £470 for the iPad last Christmas in the Whistable, Kent branch of Tesco for his daughters, reports Mail Online.

When he asked for a refund on Boxing Day, Tesco staff reported him to the police. He was later asked to report to Whitstable police station where he was detained for three hours on suspicion of attempted fraud. He spent two months on bail before being told he faced no further action.

It turns out the iPad that should have been in the box had been activated between December 21st and 24th 2012 in Marsh’s name somewhere in Wales. Of course it’s possible someone replaced the iPad with the clay before it was sold to Marsh, but how something like that actually happened isn’t clear.

Marsh has since been refunded and Tesco has apologised.

"‘You just can’t treat people like that," Marsh said. "It’s absolutely disgusting. I couldn’t believe it when I saw what was inside the box.

"Why would I want to scam Tesco out of a £470 iPad? I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through what my family and I have."

A Tesco spokesman added: "We were very disappointed to learn that the product we sold to Mr Marsh had been tampered with. 

"We would of course never knowingly have sold it to Mr Marsh and we apologise sincerely for the problems this has caused him. 

"We immediately launched an internal investigation into how this happened and shared the information we gathered with the police, which we believe was the right thing to do."