Warning from shop hero

“Well done, Mr. Burroughs. Why should the thieving scroat be allowed to walk (run) out of your shop with what is still your property, unhindered? You were protecting your livelihood at the end of the day.

On a similar theme, a watch thief (with £330k of merchandise) was stopped by members of the public in Banbury, who sat on him in the street until the police arrived & arrested him.

http://tinyurl.com/8uwwgpm

Good on them. Not sure I'd do the same, but I guess it's a split-second decision whether to intervene or stand clear when something happens. The cynics say that those who intervene then run the risk of being arrested for assault / false imprisonment etc. I'd like to see a thief try to bring a claim for as much in front of a magistrate, although have-a-go heroes have in the past ended up in court, although I hope they've all then been cleared.

We've seen several cases recently where burglars have met their match from home-owners - some have not lived to face a court. Serves them right - in my view, anybody entering a private building (residential, or otherwise) with the intention of theft leaves their human rights and civil liberties outside, and whatever comes their way whilst inside the building is fair game. If you don't want a home-owner to shoot you / batter you, then don't break into their property. Simple, really.”

“GlosYap it's covered by section 24A of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1974 and also common law.

There is a good guide in the Gardian http://tinyurl.com/3qg5lw6”

“Commendable but hardly a hero.”

“@Hustler2011 Having working in a shop and made several citizens arrests the police are VERY LENIENT. Considering you have helped them catch a criminal, it all counts towards their crime detection rates and they had to do very little.”

“Kill 'em all and let God sort it out.”

“You can only perform a citizens arrest if you catch somebody in the act of committing a crime, or if you have strong evidence that they have committed a crime, for example if somebody has their bag snatched and you apprehend a person running away with a bag. Only police can arrest somebody they suspect is ABOUT to commit a crime.
I'm not 100% on this-it's a long time since I studied law..
I get the feeling Oli has had to say this in case somebody gets hurt trying to do the same thing and says he was just copying Oli from the news. I wish more criminals were apprehended by citizens.”

“My understanding is that, if you make a citizen's arrest and the suspect pleads not guilty and is subsequently found not guilty, then in theory, he can make a complaint against you for assault or false imprisonment. How's that for justice?!”

“Well done Oli, but given the way the law works these days I am surprised that he has not been locked up.
How dare he apprehend this poor individual, who has not worked a day in his life, has numerous previous convictions and more than likely a drug and or drink problem. After all he was only trying to feed his habit bless him.”

“Would of been nice to have a follow-up to the article that gavebullet points on how you actually do a citizens arrest. I for one have no clue!”