Alex Wilson and his dad helped catch a thief, Craig Royal in Darlington, Co Durham, as he running off with a shoplifted Apple device from a pedestrian. Royal was getting past the shop on his bike when he was captured on camera by the pint-sized sleuth, who further uploaded the picture on Twitter when he got back home.

The update stated: 'This idiot just robbed someone on Yarm Road about 20 mins ago,' he posted as a caption, before the image was picked up by police who identified the thief and promptly arrested him. Alex's dad, Dylan, claimed that it was the slow traffic which helped spot the robbery, which was happening near the residence.

'Alex was really repulsed by it,' said Dylan. It was at that time when Alex took a snap from his dad's phone and Dylan yelled,, "Oi, what d'ya think you're doing?" The robber turned round to look and that's when Alex took the picture.' After accepting the guilt, Royal was convicted at Darlington Magistrates' Court and given a 12-month conditional discharge with a £50 fine and £85 costs.

It was the sheer brilliance and quick thinking of the young boy that made the catch look easy and at the same time made it quite easy for the cops to identify and at the same time arrest the suspect, Inspector Mark Hall of Darlington Police stated of Alex after the hearing.