A 20-stone decorator caught a serial mugger by rugby tackling him and sitting on him until police arrived.
Nick Martin, 34, pounced on Claudiu Rosu outside an arcade in Chilwell, Nottingham when he recognised the Romanian from a police appeal.
He wrapped his legs around the 24-year-old and held him in a choke lock in front of shocked bystanders before police arrived and took the thief away.
Mr Martin said: ‘Instinct completely took over. I ran up to him, punched him on the chin and rugby tackled him to the floor.
Hero: Nick Martin, 34, pounced on Claudiu Rosu outside an arcade in Chilwell, Nottingham when he recognised the Romanian from a police appeal
‘I think he must have thought that I was mugging him, because he started fishing around in his pocket for his wallet.
‘He smelt absolutely horrendous, it was one of the worst things I’d ever smelt’
‘The more he struggled, the more he grabbed, and eventually I had to grab hold of him and get him in a choke lock to stop him getting away.
‘I ended up lying alongside him, and I had to wrap my legs around him to stop him from moving around.
‘Thankfully I’m quite a big guy at 20 stone, and if I wasn’t so big then there’s a chance he might have overpowered me.
‘A few people started phoning the police, because they thought that I was attacking him, until my mum came out of the post office and explained what the situation was. The police arrived and took him away.’
Claudiu Rosu was found guilty of mugging four people
Rosu was yesterday he jailed for four years for mugging four people, including an 82-year-old woman he attacked outside Mr Martin’s mother’s home in September.
Rosu will be deported to Romania when released from jail.
Mr Martin said: ‘I saw him walking out of an amusement arcade and it just made my blood absolutely boil.
‘I had heard about how he’d attacked the 82-year-old and stolen from others, and had been looking for him for days.
‘Mr brother Carl and I had heard her screaming through an open window, because the alleyway where it happened was about 20 metres away from my mum’s house, where we were staying with the kids that night.
‘I didn’t think much of it at the time, but about half-an-hour later my mum showed me her phone and it was a page off social media saying that an 82-year-old woman had been attacked in an alleyway just outside the house.
‘We knew the area pretty well, and we went out on foot. We didn’t know who we were looking for, but we just kind of had a walk round to see if we could anything or anything suspicious or anything dodgy.
‘We know the wronguns well in this area, and thought we’d be able to get hold of the person responsible before they got to someone else.’
Mr Martin even bumped into Rosu before he realised he was wanted by police for the robberies.
He said: ‘At about 11.30pm we got on a tram from Bramcote Lane, and I spoke to a foreign bloke.
‘He just looked completely normal. I said ‘hi’ to him, and he said ‘hello’ back in a very foreign accent. I was so upset when I heard that that guy was the burglar.
Mr Martin (pictured) said: ‘When I saw him walking out of an amusement arcade, and it just made my blood absolutely boil.
Mr Martin added: ‘The next day the police released a CCTV image, and the day after that what was when I saw him walking nonchalantly out of the arcade, after obviously spending the money he’d stolen.
‘The fact that he is being deported and won’t be able to step foot in this country is fantastic.
‘I felt very relieved that this guy is off the streets and won’t be troubling people any more.’
‘I think any decent person would have done the same as me, it was just completely natural.’
Jailing Rosu at Nottingham Crown Court, Judge Nigel Godsmark, QC, said: ‘I have a report which says you appear to consider yourself entitled to attack and rob others.
‘You say you have no choice but to commit crime because you are homeless and have no income. You appear to have no regard for others and you are only interested in yourself.
‘I expect you to be promptly and automatically deported.’
Mr Martin (pictured) said: ‘The fact that he is being deported and won’t be able to step foot in this country is fantastic’