A pregnant woman has criticised police after she was arrested and kept in a cell for throwing a flip-flop at a neighbour’s car.

Kelly Kay, 27, claims she spent five hours locked up waiting to be interviewed after she was arrested on suspicion of criminal damage.

Officers arrived at her flat in Chapel Drive, Dartford, on July 12 after the neighbour reported the incident.

Her own car had been keyed and, believing the neighbour to be responsible, she confronted him and an argument started.

She said: “He got in his car and I threw the flip-flop at the car because when I said ‘I
know you keyed my car’ he just said, ‘so what’, which is what made me angry. Police turned up at my flat at 9.30pm and arrested and bailed me.

"He had given them CCTV of me throwing the flip-flop and they showed me a picture of scratches on the car window, but there’s no way a flip-flop would have done that.

"I am a pregnant woman and they treated me like I was a criminal" Kelly Kay

Mrs Kay, who lives with her husband and is 18 weeks pregnant, insists that no damage was caused and there was not enough evidence for her to be charged following a police interview on July 16.

Despite the case being closed, she is angry about her experience at the police station.

She said: “They were waiting for their duty solicitor, who did not turn up, and there was not enough evidence to charge me, but I am really angry that I have been treated this way.

“I am a pregnant woman and they treated me like I was a criminal. I have never been in trouble before and then I get in trouble for something so silly.”

A police spokesman said that Mrs Kay’s experience was standard practice and any suspect can be held in custody for up to 24 hours.

He said: “As the offence was not of a serious nature and to enable the woman to fulfil her work commitments, she was not immediately taken into custody and was instead bailed at the scene to attend her local police station.

“She was held in custody for approximately four hours while she consulted with her solicitor and was interviewed. She was subsequently released without charge.

“When allegations of criminal offences are made, officers have a duty to undertake all necessary inquiries. This includes where necessary arresting suspects to allow them to be interviewed in relation to the allegations.”

Mrs Kay said this dispute was the latest in three-and-a-half years of problems, which she has reported to the police on multiple occasions.