A police community support officer (PCSO) helped tackle a shoplifter in Kew who made his eight-year-old nephew walk out of a store with stolen goods.

PCSO Chris Walden, who recently transferred to Kew from the South Richmond Safer Neighbourhood Team (SNT), made the arrest at Kew Retail Park after a call from Marks and Spencer staff.

The man had allegedly removed security tags from items, put them in a bag and given them to his nephew.

Kew SNT sergeant Michael Coughlan said: “This was excellent work by our local officer. Kew SNT has recently seen an increase in officer resources, including PCSO Walden.

“We have officers on foot and also on bike patrolling Kew combined with the 24-hour response teams patrolling Richmond by car.

“The SNT officers patrol all over the ward and pay a great deal of attention to the retail park.

“In recent years retail theft has dropped significantly due to hard work local police and security guards put in place to prevent crime and also detain offenders until police arrived.”

After the arrest, the man was remanded in custody until his appearance in court.