A citizen’s arrest was made on a thug who kicked in a glass pane in the door of a Preston charity shop. He was chased and caught by staff and customers of a nearby pub who kept him locked up until the police arrived.
The vandal left the Golden Cross pub, in Lancaster Road, Preston and immediately kicked the glass in the St Catherine’s Hospice shop door.
One of the pub’s customers saw him and chased him down, even though he tried to run. After they caught him they locked him in a side room in the pub until the police came to arrest him.
Michael Kellett, the pub manager, said: “The customer who saw it ran across and came back into the pub. He grabbed hold of this guy’s arm and said, ‘Why have you done that, why have you put a charity shop window through?’
“The guy just said, ‘It’s not a charity shop, it’s a bank’.
“He went out of the back fire exit, jumped over the gate and climbed over the wall.”
Mr Kellett, licensee Sharon Duxbury and other customers were already in hot pursuit when the offender ran towards Club 3000, on Tithebarn Street.
Ms Duxbury alerted the police through the pub’s radio and the man was eventually caught near club 3000.
Mr Kellett said: “We put him in the side room, for his safety and everyone else’s. We watch out for each other’s businesses down here. It was instinct. We thought, we have got to get him back and justice has to be served.”
The head of trading at St Catherine’s Hospice, Rachel Hewitt, said: “We could not be more grateful to Michael and Sharon.
“It is difficult enough as it is raising money, so to have something like this is so disappointing. But it is quite heartwarming to know we have got so many people looking out for us.”