A JUDGE has rewarded a young Doncaster man who used stealth and his trusty steed to track down a mugger and bring him to justice.
Chris Palmer quietly pedalled his cycle a short distance behind the suspect from Town Fields to Intake while giving police a running commentary on his mobile phone and officers soon had the handbag snatcher locked up.
Today 22-year-old Bahman Mahmoudi, of Lothian Road, Intake, originally from Iran, is starting a two-and-a-half year prison sentence after being convicted of robbery while Chris is looking forward to spending the £500 he was awarded by a judge at Doncaster Crown Court for his public-spirited actions.
Chris, who lives in Bentley, has also received a commendation certificate from Chief Superintendent Bob Sanderson, commander of Doncaster police, for what he did one night last November.
The 25-year-old was on his bike waiting for a friend in Lawn Road when a man brushed past him and a few moments later another witness told him a woman had just been attacked and robbed of her handbag.
"I saw him go down this gennel onto Town Field Villas so I set off to follow him on the bike. I tried to keep pace with him without him noticing and all the time I was talking to the police to tell them where I was," said Chris.
"I could tell he still had the handbag in his hand so I was pretty sure he was the robber. With not living in that area I had to keep looking at street signs to tell the police where I was.
"We got all the way to Intake and the police controller told me they would there in a second. Just then I heard a car and looked round and it was the police so I pointed at the man and they grabbed him.
"By that time he had put the handbag in his rucksack but when the police arrested him they found it so that proved he had committed the robbery. I think he thought he'd got away with it because he didn't have a clue I was following him all the way home."
Now he is looking forward to spending his windfall on new clothes and a computer game.
Chris's actions were praised by investigating officer Det Con John Pearson, who said: "He did everything right, by calling 999 and giving us a good description and following at a safe distance. We don't want people to get injured by tackling suspects themselves.
"Chris was also a very good witness at the trial of Mahmoudi and the judge rightly rewarded him from the public purse."
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