IE 11 is not supported. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser.

93-year-old grandma gets to check item off bucket list — getting 'arrested'

Josie Birds had been a good person all her 93 years, which meant she'd missed out on one significant life event: getting tossed in jail. That's all changed now.
/ Source: TODAY

What do you get the grandmother who has everything?

In the case of Josie Birds, 93, you get her arrested!

As Birds' granddaughter Pam Smith wrote on Twitter in late June, it was "Gran Josie's" fondest wish to be "arrested for something before it's too late," so she arranged with local law enforcement to have her beloved grandmother taken to the station house.

The Greater Manchester (UK) police were happy to oblige, even though Josie had always been a very sweet woman. In a statement published in the Guardian, they explained, "A few weeks ago, a member of the community approached a GMP PCSO from the North Manchester division with a slightly unusual request.

"The woman mentioned that her 93-year-old grandmother had a request on her bucket list that she was hoping GMP would help her fulfill."

That request? To be placed in handcuffs and taken to one of the local police stations "so she could experience what it was like to be on the wrong side of the law."

"She has a heart of gold and thoroughly enjoyed it," wrote Smith in the tweet. "Thank you for granting her wishes."

Chief inspector Denise Pye of the local police force assured the Guardian that "while this was happening, officers from across the area were continuing with their duties to ensure this short visit had no impact whatsoever on the wider area."

Apparently, this happens every so often; earlier this year a 104-year-old woman named Anne Brokenbrow also had a wish to be arrested in Bristol, UK, and also got her wish. "I had a lovely day," she told the BBC. "Nothing like that ever happened to me before."

In the case of the Manchester police, Pye says they were happy to give Birds "a day to remember."

"We're glad to see that we were able to make an elderly lady smile and tick one thing off her bucket list," added Pye.

Jailbirds have never been so adorable!