What a dummy! Police scramble to rescue a kidnap victim only to discover it was a life-like manikin

Police have released a picture of a manikin that prompted a huge emergency response – after it was seen being loaded into a car.

Cops issued a plea for information after a member of the public called to say they had seen a man being put into the boot of a car.

They also carried out ‘urgent enquiries’ throughout Wednesday following the incident on the A48 in Blakeney, Glos.

But following the appeal, several people came forward to say they saw the incident and believed it the ‘man’ was an innocent manikin.

Gloucestershire Police said: ‘Police also received a call from a company which designs and creates realistic training manikins, and that it was a water rescue manikin which was being loaded into a car yesterday morning.

Police released this photo of a similar manikin that they believed had been kidnapped until members of the public told them it was just a manikin 

‘Officers would like to thank the caller who reported the incident which was a call made with good intent, and for those who came forward with information following the appeal.’

After the mystery was solved, police posted a picture of the manikin on Twitter and wrote: ‘We issued an urgent appeal this week after a call that a man was seen being put into the boot of a car on the A48 in Blakeney.

‘Thankfully we soon found out that the ‘man’ was in fact a realistic looking water rescue manikin by Extreme Simulations. Here he is in training that day.’

The original appeal said police received a report from a passing motorist who ‘thought they saw a man and a woman putting a man in a t-shirt into the boot of a dark coloured car.’

The appeal stated: ‘Urgent enquiries have been ongoing this morning and, as the man has not yet been identified or found, detectives are now appealing to the public to try and establish what was taking place.’