Police go garden hopping around Bedford's Foster Hill Road to chase down wanted man

When you think of garden hopping as police try to catch a suspected wrong ‘un, your mind must immediately go to that iconic scene in Hot Fuzz.

Well, on Saturday (March 2) it looks like police were more like Simon Pegg’s character than Nick Frost’s when they managed to arrest a wanted man after a hot pursuit through people’s gardens.

Police first spotted the man, wanted for a breach of a court order, on CCTV, then caught up with him in Wellington Street where he had it away on his toes again.

One officer said on social media: “After initially making off from me on Wellington Street, after walking straight into my path, then running through a garden and jumping over the back wall into the garden, narrowly and frustratingly escaping my grip by millimetres – he made his way via the back gardens of properties in Foster Hill Road, garden hopping into De Parys Avenue.

"Officers flooded the area and he was spotted but made off into the back gardens again. After an extensive search of the areas it appeared he had got away.

“However, minutes later, when officers had left the area, CCTV spotted him again, emerging from his hiding place and was seen to go into the communal area of block of flats. near Cobden Square.

“CCTV guided officers to the location and our wanted person was located sat in the stairwell with nowhere to run. Great teamwork all round.”

Hot Fuzz indeed.