Shoplifter tackled off bike by officer in Swansea

A Swansea shoplifter’s attempted escape came to an abrupt end when a plain-clothes officer brought him down with a well-timed tackle in the city centre.

Joshua Hayter, 27, from Ynysforgan, was spotted on Swansea High Street on November 26 trying to sell expensive cosmetics he had just stolen from a nearby shop.

The incident occurred as part of Operation Viscaria, which sees officers patrolling Swansea city centre to tackle retail crime.

When Hayter noticed plain-clothed officers approaching him, he attempted to flee on his bicycle but was quickly stopped thanks to the officer’s intervention.

Officers recovered hundreds of pounds worth of cosmetics along with 13 grams of cannabis, and Hayter was arrested at the scene.

Hayter was on a suspended sentence at the time of his arrest. He was jailed for eight weeks for the shoplifting offence, plus an additional 16 weeks for breaching his previous suspended sentence, bringing his total sentence to 24 weeks imprisonment.