Former firearms police officer Sid Wilson has spoken of his relief that his brother, Kenneth, has been cleared of any wrong doing after being arrested for allegedly shooting at two women visiting a crop circle near Devizes.

Mr Wilson, who lives in Little Horton, was with his brother, Kenneth, in the field at Manor Farm, Allington, where the crop circle was when the two Norwegians, Eva-Marie Brekkesto and Guro Parvanova, entered on July 13.

The women, both language school teachers and crop circle enthusiasts, told the Gazette that shots were being fired near to them and claimed that Kenneth Wilson told them he had been hired by the farmer to stop people from visiting the crop circle, but the farmer denied this.

As the women were leaving the field they phoned a friend who called the police and soon afterwards armed police officers swooped on the field and arrested Kenneth Wilson, 63, who had been shooting pigeons with his brother.

Mr Wilson was arrested on suspicion of using a firearm to cause fear or violence and spent six hours at Melksham Police Station where he had his fingerprints and DNA taken. He had his shotgun seized along with five other guns from his home in Oldham while police investigated the circumstances.

But he has now been told by Wiltshire police that he is not going to be charged.

Sid Wilson, 65, a former Wiltshire firearms officer, had no complaint about the police response but said the allegation was unfounded.

He said: “The police handled it by the book and I have no complaints about their response because they have to react to the information given to them. But when Kenneth was arrested I couldn’t believe what was happening, I thought it was ludicrous.

“We didn’t fire any shots when the women were in the field.

“My brother was arrested on a very serious charge. It caused a lot of distress to my brother who is in ill health.”

Kenneth Wilson said of his ordeal of being arrested: “It’s been horrendous. I said to the woman who approached me in the field that she was trespassing; she knew she was trespassing. When I talked to her I was sat down and the gun was away from me, unloaded.

“I have been shooting vermin for 25 to 30 years and I shoot all over the country. When the police arrived the whole thing should have been resolved in the field, I should not have been arrested.”