A bride ended up watching as her groom was carted off in handcuffs by police on their wedding night.

With Nick Armstrong and his new wife Sarah's four-poster bridal suite bed awaiting them just a bouquet's throw away, police were instead taking Nick to a single blue plastic mattress in the cells at Melksham police station 14 miles away.

The bride was said to be "distraught" that her wedding was ruined, while the furious groom was being bundled into the back of a police van.

The couple had been married hours earlier, and enjoyed a traditional wedding reception in the historic Old Bell Inn at Warminster, Wiltshire, followed by an evening do attended by around 70 of their friends and family.

But things took a downward turn later in the evening at the town centre hotel – just when the party was getting into full swing – when hotel managers began to investigate claims about drugs in the hotel toilets. At around 10pm, hotel managers Chris Wright and Lucy Heard went into the toilets and found what they believed might be evidence of drugs on the toilets and on the window sill.

"We have a very serious anti-drugs policy at the hotel. We initially closed down the toilet area so we could investigate further," explained Mr Wright.

There is no suggestion the material found in the toilets was anything to do with the bridal couple.

He said that Mr Armstrong, 38, was then involved in an altercation with a member of the hotel door staff.

"We were forced to take the decision to close down the entire event. We realised the seriousness of that decision, and called the police to be on hand.

"Luckily, a lot of the older family members had gone to bed by then, so missed it all, but things escalated when we informed the party that the night was over," he explained.

The police arrested Mr Armstrong, who was taken to the custody unit at Melksham police station, leaving his bride back at the hotel.

"The bride was not very happy at all, as you might imagine. She was livid to say the least," said Mr Wright. "She was adamant that neither she nor her new husband had anything to do with any drugs."

The bride had stayed the previous night in the bridal suite and the happy couple were due to stay their wedding night there too. The suite was given to the couple free for holding their reception there. But the bride left and a number of other guests checked out that night.

A spokesman for Wiltshire police confirmed that Mr Armstrong had been arrested and spent the night in the cells. "He was charged in the morning and bailed to appear at court later this month," he said.

He added: "We would like to thank the Old Bell for identifying a problem and allowing the police to deal with the incident properly."

Mr Armstrong was released the following day, and is due to appear in court on September 18 charged with assault.

The couple were unavailable for comment.