Amar Dedic set to escape Newcastle sanction over carrying bow and arrow

Newcastle’s Amar Dedic is unlikely to face a club sanction after being spotted holding a bow and arrow in the Northumberland countryside and sparking a major police pursuit involving an armed response unit.

Dedic is expected to start Newcastle’s match at Fulham on Saturday following an incident that at one point saw six patrol cars pursue the Bosnia right-back back to his home on the upmarket Darras Hall estate, just outside Ponteland.

Northumbria Police were alerted on Wednesday afternoon when a member of the public spotted Dedic and a friend walking through the Northumberland countryside equipped with bows and arrows. This equipment was eventually seized from the boot of the 24-year-old’s car when he arrived back home at Darras Hall.

In a statement the force said they were satisfied the bows and arrows were “for recreational use and there was no threat to the public”, but inquires were “on-going”. Pursuing animals using bow and arrows or crossbows is illegal in the UK but there are no suggestions that Dedic or his friend were on a hunting expedition.

“Shortly after 1.55pm on Wednesday we received a report of two men carrying a bow and arrow while walking along a track by the reservoir on the Military Road in the Harlow Hill area,” said Northumbria police. “Officers attended and subsequently stopped a vehicle in the Darras Hall area and seized bows and arrows.”

Dedic, a £29.5m summer signing from Benfica, is believed to have been grateful for the coincidental intervention of Newcastle’s fourth-choice goalkeeer Mark Gillespie and former full-back Paul Dummett. The pair were passing Dedic’s home and, spotting the police presence on his drive way, stopped to offer assistance and are understood to have helped calm the situation down. Newcastle are understood to believe Dedic acted “naively.”