The mixup happened when police were called to a large hotel in Enderby near Leicester after receiving a call about a person inside carrying a knife near the lifts.

A number of officers attended the scene only to discover the offending weapon was in fact a wand being carried by a Harry Potter fan.

In an update on the local police Facebook page on Sunday, an officer said: “I attended a large hotel in Enderby this morning with a number of firearms officers, following a report of a male inside near the lifts carrying ‘a large knife’.

“Following enquiries we quickly established that it was a Harry Potter fan with a wand. Thankfully no harm was caused to any resident and there was no sign of ‘Voldermort’ [sic].”