Pictured: Battered moped thief who was tackled by rugby playing banker

Moped yob Leon de Silva sports two black eyes after he was tackled by a homeowner outside a flat in Chelsea

Sporting two black eyes, this is the moped robber tackled by an investment banker who dashed out of his home in his boxer shorts when he saw his car being broken into.

City worker Stephen Canny, 33, was watching TV with his girlfriend when they heard thieves smash the back windows of their two Mercedes outside their luxury Chelsea apartment.

He shouted ‘you picked the wrong car’ at Leon de Silva, 19, after the teenager, clad in full motorbike gear, had smashed the windows of their identical A200 cars.

As he wrestled de Silva to the ground the former amateur rugby player and executive director for Volcap Trading, was shouting ‘you ain’t going nowhere mate. You must be stupid’. 

Canny, 33, a commodities broker from Essex, told MailOnline after the incident: ‘Of course I’d do it again. If it happened again tonight, I’d do the same thing again and I wouldn’t even think about it.’

He added: ‘Why should I allow people to break into my property and damage my vehicle? Where I come from, that’s not acceptable.

‘I’m absolutely not having someone rob my car with me sitting upstairs. If I’m out and it happens, there’s nothing I can do about it. But not when I’m sitting upstairs.’ 

A passer-by captured a video of Mr Canny pinning de Silva to the ground in his boxer shorts

A passer-by captured a video of Mr Canny pinning de Silva to the ground in his boxer shorts

Stephen’s girlfriend, asked not want to be named, said: ‘We were sitting on the sofa when we heard the first window smash and looked out the window and then my boyfriend, who was just in his pants, ran down and tackled him to the ground.

‘He was trying to get away and he just pinned him down, my boyfriend used to play rugby so this guy didn’t have much of a chance.

‘There were two of them, one on a moped as a getaway vehicle and the other guy. They were smashing into cars and did in about six others that night too.’

She added: ‘I did a bit of shouting myself, but he was the one who was wrestling this man to the ground.

‘The moped driver tried to punch him a couple of times but it didn’t seem to be making much of a difference so he drove off and left his mate behind. There were about 20 people watching in the end.’ 

Before targeting the investment banker, de Silva and a pal stole over £1,000 in goods in thefts from Chelsea and Fulham residents earlier that night.

Former amateur rugby player Stephen Canny tackled the robbers in a pair of pyjama shorts

Former amateur rugby player Stephen Canny tackled the robbers in a pair of pyjama shorts

On Ellerby Street, Fulham, de Silva robbed lawyer Stephen Wisking and stole a Dell Laptop, an Apple iPad Pro, £100 euros, a blue canvas bags containing paperwork and another black bag from his BMW X5.

He went on to Roskell Road, Putney, and stole Bose headphones and a red bag containing books and documents belonging to William Bond.

In a third robbery at Beaufort Street, in Chelsea, he stole from Ashley Fromberg a black holdall and ID documents.

The two Mercedes belonging to Stephen Canny and his girlfriend were the thieves’ fourth target.

He pinned de Silva onto the ground opposite Gordon Ramsay’s Maze Grill restaurant in Chelsea, central London, as passersby watched on in horror at around 9.30pm on 7 March.

He told MailOnline he couldn't just stand by and watch his car be damaged outside his home

He told MailOnline he couldn’t just stand by and watch his car be damaged outside his home

During the brawl de Silva’s accomplice, who is still on the run from police, began to punch brave Stephen but gave up and fled on a getaway moped.

De Silva, of no fixed abode, was left battered with two black eyes and he has been sent to a young offenders institution for 18 months at Isleworth Crown Court after pleading guilty to a string of offences.

The teen’s offending also saw him breach a six month sentence suspended for 24 months he received in February last year for dangerous driving when he hit the pavement before driving on the wrong side of the road.

He pleaded guilty to eight charges; three counts of theft from a motor vehicle, two counts of criminal damage, handling stolen goods, a single count of assault with intent to resist arrest and breaching a previous suspended sentence.

 



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