An off-duty police officer has been praised for nabbing a thief who had just stolen stole religious clothing from a local vicarage yesterday evening.
A member of the public reported the incident to PC Steve Porter, after he’d spotted a entering the garden of the Tisbury vicarage on Sunday 17 September.
Steve went to investigate and checked the grounds of the vicarage – he could not find anyone but phoned 999 to report a possible burglary.
While waiting for on-duty officers to get there, Steve saw the suspect leave the premises and managed to stop and detain him until uniformed officers arrived.
The suspect was searched and found to be in possession of religious clothing, over £300 pounds of church donations and two bottles of alcohol stolen from the vicarage.
Gavin Thomas Disson, 38, of Court Street Close has been formally charged with the burglary; he was refused bail and will remain in custody pending a remand application being made to Swindon Magistrates Court tomorrow.
Inspector Andy Fee said: “This is great work carried out by Steve who just happened to be off-shift at the time – a good example which shows our local communities that our dedicated police officers are never really off duty.
“Had it not been for Steve’s actions it is highly likely that our suspect would’ve gone before on-duty officers arrived.”
