Shop manager foils attempted burglar by leaving him half-naked on roof

The red-faced burglar was then naked from the waist down as he escaped onto the roof of the bike shop he had just tried to raid – and was then involved in a 40-minute stand-off with police.

Mr Neilson saw the thief as he was opening up the Cliff Pratt Cycles store in the city centre of Hull on Monday morning.

The 34-year-old said: “The guy had broken in by creating a hole in the roof. His entering had set off the alarm but when I got to the shop I couldn’t see anything.

“It was when I got to the workshop at the back that I saw this man trying to pull a cycle through a hole in the ceiling. The only thing I could muster was ‘Morning Mate’, before charging at him. He was half-way out of the hole so I started grabbing at his feet and legs to try and get him back down, he was kicking away like crazy, all the while I even managed to ring 999. I wasn’t getting him down so I decided I needed to make sure the police could catch him if he got away, so I pulled off his shoes and then his jeans, but his boxer shorts came with them, so then all he had on was in his jacket.

“It was all very surreal, it was a bit of a comedy tussle really but he did give me a few kicks to the head and threatened to knife me so I did back off in the end.”

The police arrived soon after the semi-naked burglar got onto the roof, but he refused to come down.

Mr Neilson, who is getting married next year, said: “He obviously wasn’t very bright because he’d decided to break in at rush-hour on a Monday morning and was trying to nick two £1,500 road bikes and pull them through a hole measuring 3ft by 1ft.”

The intruder eventually climb ed down a ladder provided by firefighters.

Mr Neilson had hospital treatment for cuts and bruises.

A man in his 30s has been arrested on suspicion of burglary.