Wanted man caught on the bus (From The Argus)
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Wanted man caught on the bus
10:20am Saturday 11th February 2012 in News
A wanted man was arrested after catching the same bus as an off-duty police officer who had been hunting him.
PC Jon Attfield could not believe it when he turned around and spotted a man who had been on his radar for weeks.
Both men were travelling home – PC Attfield to Newhaven – when they inadvertently met on the Brighton and Hove Bus and Coach Company’s number 12 coastal route between Brighton and Eastbourne.
PC Attfield, 39, was wearing his civilian clothes and the suspect did not recognise him.
The officer slipped off the bus and used his police radio to contact colleagues.
They then piled on the bus at the ring road in Newhaven and arrested the man – as passengers looked on in shock.
PC Attfield said: “Apparently as the other officers got on the bus he slid down his seat and tried to hide.
“But he couldn’t get off the bus and was arrested.”
Referring to the incident, he said: “It was a bit of luck. My colleagues were pleased. He has been wanted for weeks and I was out of uniform so he did not recognise me.”
Chief Inspector Jason Tingley, commander for Lewes District said the incident proved police were never off the job.
He said: “This is another example of police going the extra mile and never being off duty.”
Last week, The Argus reporter how Ch Insp Tingley helped chase a suspected drug dealer through his back garden in his pyjamas.
A man aged 23 and of no fixed address was arrested on Wednesday for breaching a community order.
He was subsequently charged with theft and attempted theft and is due to appear at Brighton Magistrates' Court on March 9.
