They came to chop down some trees, were offered mugs of tea by residents and initially thought no more of it. Only when the workmen fell violently sick did they begin to suspect foul play.
Detectives confirmed yesterday that they were investigating claims that the three men had been poisoned. It is the latest development in the Sheffield tree-felling saga, in which the council’s decision to cut down trees has been fiercely resisted by campaigners.
The workmen from the construction company Amey are believed to have had to take time off work because of the severity of their symptoms.
Their colleagues were forced to down tools earlier this week amid concerns over safety after violent clashes between workers and protesters. The work will resume next week.
South Yorkshire police said that it was investigating “reports of three alleged assaults on three workers who were felling trees”. A spokesman said that officers had carried out forensic tests and had spoken to witnesses. Their inquiries were continuing.
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Sheffield city council has instructed Amey to fell 6,000 trees in the city as part of a £2 billion scheme to improve roads and footpaths. It says the trees are dangerous, dead, diseased or dying, but some residents insist that many of them are healthy and should not be cut down.
The council has said that costly solutions to retain the trees would mean cutting its social care budget.
The work has been dogged by smears, disruptions, arrests and daily protests. Sir Nick Clegg, the former Liberal Democrat leader and MP for Sheffield Hallam, said that the dispute had prompted scenes “you’d expect in Putin’s Russia, not a Sheffield suburb”.
Last year a High Court judge backed the council’s view that people protesting against tree felling from within safety barriers were breaking the law.
Last night it emerged that a couple had been questioned by police over the incident last Saturday. Neither John Unwin, 60, nor his wife Sue, 59, was arrested after speaking voluntarily to officers. Dr Unwin was told that he may have to attend a police station at a later date. He has denied any wrongdoing.
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He told the Daily Mail: “Poisoning tea sounds like a plot from an Agatha Christie novel or something involving a Russian dissident. Sheffield’s a different place. We don’t do that kind of thing.”