As I remember they asked me a few questions about what he looked like and what I saw and then I was sent back to bed. It's possible they stayed and talked to my father after, it's also possible he was involved in something he shouldn't have been, he had a mysterious fire in the same house a short while after. But they definitely said to me it was just a local chap that did that sort of thing and I shouldn't worry, although I'm now 35 and have never forgotten it!
That's very interesting, AJ, if you recall any more about this please let me know as it may well link to someone I'm researching at present. Contacting me by pm may be best as I don't always see replies to queries on the main forum if they come in some time after I ask questions. Is there anyone in your family who might know more about this? Please ask around your family! Tolleshunt D'Arcy was just a small village, although there were of course a few oddballs around the village there would not have been that many people in the village who were known to the police for their habit of criminal damage. Even less, I suspect, who the police would have let off with something like this. It sounds to me as though whoever did this was known to be mentally ill or unstable. Also, if your father was involved in something he shouldn't have been then he was one of many. From what my family told me, most of the district were up to something or other, whether it be smuggling, selling or helping themselves to their employer's plants, unused equipment or booze, tax evasion, poaching, commercial or political corruption or turning a blind eye to something or other. Such things were the norm in that part of deepest, back of beyond Essex.
