Suspected Burglar Tackled by Angry Residents of Fulham Road Flats
Man arrested after being 'initially detained' by public on Wednesday
The scene of the attempted crime
A suspected burglar has been arrested and is in police custody after being tackled by a group of angry residents of a block of flats in Fulham.
The incident at the Fulham Road flats, next to Chelsea Football Ground, began on Wednesday evening when a woman returning to her top floor flat looked up from the road and saw a man moving about inside her home.
While shouting to alert her neighbours, she ran upstairs, challenged the man and then pursued him down the stairwell as he tried to flee along with an accomplice.
By the time they reached the front door, her neighbours were waiting to stop the pair, including one enterprising elderly man wielding a pot plant!
While the second men escaped, the first managed to break free from the group and took off around the garden with a number of residents chasing him. He was finally trapped in the back garden, trying to hide behind an electricity sub-station when police arrived to arrest him.
While officers on the scene said they were 'impressed' by the actions of the residents, the Met Police said: " Police were called at 6.29pm on Wednesday, 15 January to reports of a burglary in progress at a residential apartment on Fulham Road, SW6.
" Officers attended. Members of the public had initially detained one of the suspects. He was later located nearby and was arrested on suspicion of burglary. He was taken to a west London police station where he remains at this time.
" A second suspect fled the scene and remains outstanding."
January 17, 2020