Bobby on the seat! Moment armed police officer borrows teenager's BIKE to chase fleet-footed shoplifter now jailed for £6,000 of thefts

By FRANCINE WOLFISZ, NEWS REPORTER Published: 21:05, 19 June 2026 | Updated: 21:18, 19 June 2026 A prolific shoplifter has finally felt the weight of the law - after an armed policeman chased him down using a teenager's bicycle. The officer was running after thief Phillip Padgett, 32, following reports he had stolen steaks from a supermarket in South Shields, Tyneside. Police scrambled to the scene on June 7 after receiving reports of a man acting aggressively at the store on Stanhope Road. The dramatic pursuit was caught on bodycam footage, which showed the officer struggling to keep up with the perpetrator as he fled through an estate. As the thief appeared to be getting away, the officer quickly stopped a teenage boy who was riding past. He told the surprised youth: 'Give us your bike, I'm chasing a thief. I'll be two minutes.' The teenager replied: 'Two minutes? Okay.' Convicted: Philip Padgett, 32, of no fixed address, admitted more than 30 counts of shoplifting with a total value of almost £6,000 Bodycam footage caught the moment an armed police officer chased after Padgett using a teenager's bicycle - and placed him in handcuffs The police officer can be heard in the footage asking a teenager to borrow his bicycle High steaks chase: Discarded meat thrown into the bushes has been stolen by Padgett Video footage then shows the officer swiftly cycling through the estate before catching up with Padgett, who had earlier thrown three stolen steaks into a hedge. He was caught minutes later and bodycam shows him being handcuffed and placed in the back of a police car. Padgett, of no fixed address, admitted more than 30 counts of shoplifting with a total value of almost £6,000. He was jailed for 40 weeks at South Tyneside Magistrates' Court. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. Your details from Facebook will be used to provide you with tailored content, marketing and ads in line with our Privacy Policy.