A terrified mother came face to face with armed police on the driveway of her home after a case of mistaken identity put her at the centre of a police manhunt.

Pip Slater's evening began by taking her daughter to school and ended up being targeted by a Sussex Police marksman on her drive hunting an armed robber.

Police have now apologised to Mrs Slater who, when she found herself looking down the barrel of a gun, was told by officers: "Don't worry love, we've got the wrong person."

Mrs Slater, 47, of Roundle Square, Bognor Regis, said: "I was absolutely terrified. I didn't know what to do when I saw the police marksman pointing the gun at me.

"It's frightening to think what could have happened."

In an embarrassing twist for Sussex Police, the incident came in the same week they formally apologised to the family of James Ashley, who was unarmed when gunned down and killed by officers who smashed their way into his bedsit in Hastings.

Police in Mrs Slater's case said her blue L-reg VW Golf was similar in description to a vehicle driven by a gunman who had shot at a house in the resort 48 hours earlier.

But no explanation has yet been given by the police about how they mistook a 47-year-old woman for a 6ft man aged in 20s.