PC Praised For Bravery In Sutton Coldfield

8 February 2019, 15:10 | Updated: 8 February 2019, 15:12

A student officer's been praised for her bravery in tackling a burglar with a rugby tackle as he tried to escape a pensioner’s home in Sutton Coldfield.

West Midlands PC Ali Smith charged at Christopher Arnold moments after seeing him jump from the first floor window of a house in Chester Road North - crashing through the conservatory.

The 25-year-old former English teacher was dragged along an alleyway by Arnold – who at nearly 16 stone is twice PC Smith’s weight – as he tried to escape in December.

She managed to pull him to the ground and keep him pinned down until colleagues helped arrest the 43-year-old.

He was searched and found with gold jewellery and a silver serving plate swiped from the 61-year-old woman’s house, two kinder egg plastic capsules filled with crack cocaine.

Arnold, from Kilburn Road in Kingstanding, went on to be charged with burglary and at Birmingham Crown Court on 24 January he was jailed for two-and-a-half years.

PC Smith said: “We were in the briefing room preparing to start a 6pm to 4am shift when news of the burglary came across our radios and there was an ‘all out’ call for anyone nearby to attend.

“We blue-lighted to the scene and I made for an alleyway at the back of the house that I suspected the offender might use to escape.

“A tall man in a khaki jacket wearing gardening gloves ran towards me; he tried dodging me but I grabbed him with both arms. Due to his size over my petite eight stone he managed to run some distance with me clinging to him.

“We eventually hit the deck; he was struggling and trying to break free but I was able to hold him on the ground before other officers arrived to help out. 

“There was no way I was letting go – and it’s great to hear he’s now been jailed and out of harm’s way.”

PC Smith is due to complete her probation this summer.