A man alleged to have confiscated a replica samurai sword from teenagers in Ely, said he took it because it posed a threat.

And he says he is waiting to get through to Cambridgeshire Police to invite them to collect it.

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CCTV images of the man, now known as Trevor Bennett, were released earlier today by police at Ely.

They said the teenagers he took it from had told them he was going to take it the Ely Police Station.

However, when he didn’t turn up with the sword, police issued a press release to track him.

Mr Bennett spoke to the Ely Standard tonight and said the sword was all wrapped up and he was still trying to call police on the 101 number.

And, he claims, to show the sword is potentially dangerous he has released a five-minute video across social media showing it cutting through paper and being pulled in and out of its sheath.

“This is not a replica,” he said. “A good half hour beforehand I had seen these lads chopping at the trees and hitting a coke can with it, swinging it about in public.”

"Today, it's over Facebook and various other platforms, the police are looking for me for a theft of a Samurai sword replica.”

In the video he explains what happened.

“On Tuesday 26th, I was looking out my window and saw a group of three lads ranging from probably 14-16 years old and I had this –a heavy weapon, a sword.

“This is not a replica. This is a deadly weapon. It is not a toy and it shouldn’t have been in the hands of young kids out and about the town.

“I confiscated the sword. I saw the boys taking it out the sheath twice, messing about. One of them poked the other one in the back with it.

"I subsequently found out that before that these lads were chopping at the trees and hitting a coke can with it, swinging it about in public.

“The person that told me they saw them doing this said he also saw at least two other adults saying to him ‘you shouldn’t be doing that, it’s illegal’. I didn’t know that at the time.

"When I saw these lads with this weapon, I decided I will do the right thing which is to take it off them.”

“I walked up and said ‘where’s that sword?’ I grabbed it and I said it’s confiscated and I walked away.

"They protested ‘you can’t do that, you can’t do that’ I said ‘I don’t care, I’m taking it’.

“This was past 5 o’clock in the evening and I know Ely police station shuts around 5. I’ve kept it inside my flat, for the opportunity of either handing it to police.

“Then I thought about it that I don’t want to get the lads in trouble, or myself embroiled in a case, so I thought I’ll try and spot the lads and say ‘lads, if you give me a parent’s phone number and I see mum or dad written on your phone, I’ll phone them and arrange for this sword to go back’.

“I haven’t had time to do that because I haven’t seen the lads.”

He said he had hoped to “find one of these lads or one of those lads recognising me then I could say to them exactly what I’ve said - ‘give me your mum’s or dad’s phone number and I’ll arrange for the sword to come back’.”

Mr Bennett said his plan was for the teenagers not to be involved with police but that now seemed inevitable.

"I’m disappointed today to find out the police have got me on their website as a wanted man for the theft of a replica sword,” he said.

“I’ve had two or three people phone me up as I don’t use Facebook, saying ‘you’re all over Facebook, people saying you’re approaching kids, you’re this, you’ve stolen…’ - it’s ridiculous.

“Like I’ve said, I demonstrated the severity of this weapon which is what it is and it’s disappointing that now, I’m wanted. Because the day after the incident, I didn’t take it to the police station.

"I was busy yesterday and was open for the opportunity to spot the lads. These are not children, these were lads. They could do some serious damage with this.

“I’ve got children. I’ve got a 12-year-old son and the first thing that came to my mind was ‘if my son happens to walk down the street and comes across these lads with this sword and there’s a confrontation, there’s a very high likelihood someone’s going to get very hurt.

“I’ve just demonstrated the power of this weapon without any force. I don’t know how old these lads were, but they shouldn’t have had this.”

Mr Bennett said: “This is a cover video to cover my arse and I wanted to demonstrate the effectiveness of this before I hand it back to the police so they can no longer say this is a toy, or replica, or any other way they want to describe it.

“And that’s that.”

Cambridgeshire Police posted on Facebook tonight a “thank you for sharing (the appeal) and we’ve now identified the man”.