Thief stopped in tracks by brave licensee

A hero licensee has been praised by a judge after making a citizen's arrest on a conman who preyed on the elderly.

When Kevin Ludlow saw the suspected criminal walking into his pub - The Victoria, in Staveley, near Chesterfield - he told him "Excuse me, you're under arrest."

The crook had previously been spotted at flats nearby trying to trick pensioners out of money.

And when he entered the pub Kevin, 49, and a couple of regulars made sure he didn't get away until the police arrived.

David Smitheman, 27, tried to slip out of his jacket and denied the accusations.

But he was arrested and last week was jailed for a year after pleading guilty to burglary at court.

After the case Kevin remained modest about his actions.

He said: "I didn't think much about it. I told police if 'I see him, I'll perform a citizen's arrest.

"When a customer told me he'd walked in, I said 'you're joking' and got on with arresting him. He kept saying 'I don't know what you're talking about.'

"But I had seen him in here with an elderly gentleman from the flats across the road and that had made me suspicious,"

Derby Crown Court heard that Smitheman, of Brimington in Derbyshire, stole a pensioner's purse on April 25 while claiming to be the new carer in the flats.

Judge Andrew Hamilton said: "Mr Ludlow acted in a very appropriate public-spirited way. He approached him and exercised anybody's statutory powers of citizen's arrest.

"He is to be congratulated for his assistance which has resulted in this man appearing in court."

Jonathan Carroll, mitigating, said: "It was a disgraceful burglary of the most unpleasant kind. He is genuinely ashamed of what he did on this occasion."

As well as being praised by the judge the licensee, who runs the pub with his wife Christine, was given a £200 reward.

And he plans to spend the cash on treating the customers who helped with the arrest and donate the rest to charity.