Teens run into trouble at Polegrove

Fearless members of Bexhill Runners chased a pair of thieves at the Polegrove and rugby-tackled them to the ground.

Then they sat on them and kept them there until police officers arrested them '“ one aged 14, the other 21.

The drama happened early on Saturday morning when the group of runners had just finished their training warm-up in the Polegrove.

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Their session leader said: "These two lads came running up towards us with this girl behind shouting '“ Stop them, stop them, they have broken into my car!

"It was so surreal. We thought, that's bizarre... then three guys from the group just ran out and rugby-tackled one of them to the ground and then sat on him. This was on the lawn in front of the big flats on the seafront.

"The other boy was rugby-tackled in the Polegrove by a 60 year old guy, actually a retired gentleman, who sat on him. He pulled his hoodie over his face and refused to get off until the police arrived.

"It was classic. I was so proud of them...Dave and Bill, Antonio and Terry, they were brilliant.

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"Some of these guys are older, and retired, and it was a really brave thing to do.

"And even though they are old they can still outrun those young guys.

"They were amazing. They were the ones that really caught them, the rest of us just sat there with the victim, the girl whose car had been broken into, and called the police."

Sussex Police officers had received information just after 6am that cars were being broken into in Pages Lane.

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Then at 8.15am came the call that two youths had stolen a satnav and mobile phone from a car parked in Wickham Avenue, and been chased and held by runners who managed to catch them in Richmond Road near the Polegrove Entrance.

Police arrived at the scene within minutes and and took the two males into custody '“ they have since been released on bail and are helping with ongoing enquiries.

Inspector James Scott commented this week: "It's a good result...they are to be commended for their actions in apprehending the males until police arrived on the scene.

"If anyone has had anything stolen and not reported it they should get in touch because there is a number of unclaimed and unidentified items and we are trying to establish ownership."

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