A vigilant member of the public helped police arrest two burglary suspects by giving officers a blow-by-blow account by phone as to the crooks' movements.
The neighbourly hero spotted a pair of youths loitering suspiciously outside a home in Addison Gardens, West Kensington, and, after becoming increasingly concerned about what they were up to, put in a call to police.
Met call operators had the person on the phone for 15 minutes and received a running commentary, enabling them to arrest two men shortly afterwards.
Officers are crediting the civic-minded resident for the capture and are encouraging others to do the same.
A spokeswoman for the force said of the January 4 incident: "This person was incredibly helpful and without their assistance there is no guarantee we would have been able to make arrests.
"The commentary was very detailed and at one point the person directed our officers down an alley where one of the suspects had run off with a computer.
"Such was the detail in the descriptions we were able to make arrests within 20 minutes of the call and taken another two potential burglars off the streets of Hammersmith and Fulham. Several items of stolen property were recovered.
"We would like to thank this person for their help and would encourage more people to call in and assist us if they see people acting suspiciously in this manner."
Two suspects were released on bail pending further enquiries.
Meanwhile, another Addison Gardens resident had reason to celebrate last week when police officers reunited her with her stolen bicycle.
The resourceful owner quickly spotted the bike had been advertised for sale on a well known website and told police, who raided an address and recovered it,
The owner was able to identify the property due to specific markers that were unique to her bicycle.
Residential burglaries in the Addison ward have fallen over the past six months since residents asked police to target the crime as a priority.
At the last count on November there were 106 burglaries, down from 118 three months previously. Over three years, the number of break-ins has fallen by nearly 400.
