A couple at the centre of a legal wrangle which has seen them evicted from their £650,000 Stotfold home despite never missing a mortgage payment in 25 years were arrested and cautioned yesterday for squatting, criminal damage and trespass at their own property.

Bob and Rose Jackson, who have been left bankrupt after a bitter dispute with a company from which Bob held a franchise, opened the door to police on Tuesday morning before being arrested and taken into police custody for eight hours.

Speaking to the Comet after he and his wife accepted the police caution, Bob said: “This has been a nightmare and it’s getting worse.

“It was terrible. We’re traumatised. My wife is absolutely distraught at our treatment.

“Neither of us has ever been in trouble with the police before – but we were treated like common criminals.

“Three police vans, at least three police cars and what I counted to be around 40 police officers came to our door. We were then taken in separate cars and put in different cells.

“My wife has been in tears and incredibly distressed at not being able to see or speak to me during our ordeal.

“They also made me take my belt and shoes off. They fingerprinted us both and took our DNA. It feels like we live in a police state – but we’ve not broken any laws and have made every mortgage payment and continue to do so.”

The couple’s eviction followed a dispute with Pirtek UK, which provides hoses and hydraulics, who accused franchisee Bob of buying and selling other companies’ products in breach of his contract – an allegation he denies.

The couple’s High Street home was repossessed over debts owed to Pirtek, which seized the assets of 63-year-old Bob’s company.

Police confirmed a Stotfold man and woman received a caution for squatting. The man was cautioned for criminal damage.