Police 'too busy' to arrest burglar

But instead of the police arriving to carry out what could have been a significant arrest he had no choice but to let him go after officers insisted they would be unavailable for two hours.

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They apologised but claimed that due to manpower issues they were unable to attend until a shift changeover at 10pm - despite being less than 100 yards away from the incident.

Mr Brown's brave neighbour, who overpowered the young thug in a bid to prevent him from escaping, was informed by a police operator after calling for help:

"Sorry, but we're too busy to come out and arrest him."

Last night, Mr Brown, a 34-year-old taxi driver who had returned from visiting his poorly daughter in Great Ormond Street, described the treatment he and his neighbour received as "shameful".

He said: "The whole affair beggars belief. My neighbour caught them red-handed and had one of them by the scruff of the neck but the police said they didn't have anyone to come out and help.

"My neighbour said: 'What are you on about? I've got the culprit here now, what am I supposed to do with him?". The police said they didn't know so he had to let him go. He had no choice.

"What was he going to do? Make him a cup of tea until the police came to take him away for heaven's sake."

Mr Brown added: "What's really annoyed me is those toerags think they've got away with it and will probably go and do the same again. They even tried to break into the shop next door so they're obviously not new to this game.

"The police had a golden chance to catch them and missed. What happens now if next time they have a knife and someone isn't so lucky?"

The police were called to the property in Hornchurch, Essex, on Tuesday night after Mr Brown's neighbour heard a number of youngsters crashing around in his garage.

They had broken in through a side window and forced the garage door open from the inside.

When one of the culprits failed to escape in time Mr Brown and his neighbour believed the police would come immediately and take care of the arrest. But instead they had no alternative other than to let him go.

Mr Brown visited his local police station at 9pm that evening to lodge a formal complaint and was again told that officers would still not be able to investigate the break-in until 10pm.

Last night, a Romford police spokesman said: "When we received the call at 7.52pm we didn't have any available units to send, but at 8.06pm we were informed the suspect had made off.

"At 8.08pm we contacted the informant who declined further assistance because of the time it had taken. The victim has made a complaint to police about the lack of action and the matter will be investigated by our inspector."

The incident comes after Havering borough commander, Chief Supt Sultan Taylor, triumphantly hailed an increase in manpower, with the number of officers increased by 50 from 341 to 393.