Hammersmith and Fulham Council has released dramatic footage of a police chase in which a thief is caught red handed after attempting to steal items from a parked car.

In the CCTV footage the offender can be seen riding a Santander bike, AKA Boris bike, in Dawes Road, Fulham when he passes a Range Rover which he sees has the passenger window down.

After stopping and letting himself into the car, he removes possessions from the front and from the boot of the vehicle.

(Image: Hammersmith and Fulham Council)

He then makes off on the bike with his hands full when a police van arrives just in time to stop him, and after a perfectly timed bit of door ramming, the offender and bike fall to the floor and he is arrested.

Following the incident, which occurred just after 8.30am on Sunday (June 4), Dave Hinton, crime prevention design adviser for the Met Police, said: "In most cases car crime is committed by opportunists who often take less than a minute to get into a vehicle,"

"Please ensure you leave no valuables on display and always lock your car and close the windows, even if only away from the vehicle for a ‘moment’."

(Image: Hammersmith and Fulham Council)

Jake Nedd, 31, of no fixed address, admitted to theft from a motor vehicle, going equipped for theft and taking a vehicle without consent, relating to the use of a Santander cycle, when he appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 5.

He was sentenced to 28 weeks in prison.

"This is another excellent piece of joint work by our CCTV team and the police," said Cllr Sue Fennimore, deputy leader of Hammersmith and Fulham Council.

"We’re determined to stop crime and protect public safety which is why we’ve put the highest-ever number of council-funded police officers on the street in the borough’s history."

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