Karate champion stops would-be thieves outside home

By Adam Dutton

There was instant karma for two suspected thieves prowling outside the home of a karate world champion - when he threw one to the ground.

Dave Treadwell, 45, was asleep when his wife Kelly, 47, noticed their Ring doorbell alert going off.

Two shady-looking men were seen near the couple’s BMWs which were parked outside their home in Bishopston, Warks.

Dave, a 6th Dan black belt and current World and European Champion, leaped into action and chased the pair down the road.

Doorbell footage captured the moment Dave sprinted after the suspects in the early hours of Tuesday, April 15.

The superfit dad-of-two caught up with one of the men who he restrained until the police arrived.

Despite officers saying there was not enough evidence to arrest him, he was detained when they discovered a warrant was out for an unrelated offense.

Dave, who lives with wife Kelly and their two children aged 18 and 21, said the family had been targeted by would-be thieves twice in a week.

He said: “We've got a Ring doorbell camera on the house along with a couple of other cameras.

“The first incident happened last Thursday when Kelly heard the camera go in the night.

“She looked out the window and saw two men outside.

“One of them was parked in a car and the other was on the driveway with some type of equipment to break into the car.

“They ran off because I think they were startled by the lights coming on in the house.”

Dave said he believes the crooks decided to strike again in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

He said: “The Ring doorbell camera alert went off again at around 3 a.m. and when Kelly looked out the window she saw someone outside.

“She woke me and told me what she’d seen and I just jumped up and legged it after them while she called police.

“You can see me on the camera sprinting out the house after them.

“I couldn’t see them because they’d shot down an alleyway so I followed and shouted at them.

“I saw them both hiding in someone’s garden.

“I was still shouting that I wasn’t going anywhere so they might as well give themselves up.

“They then ran out of a bush and I chased them again until I caught one of them."

As his martial arts training kicked in, Dave was able to restrain the man who was struggling on the ground.

Dave added: “I was just trying to get the guy on the floor and restrain him.

"I used arm lock techniques to get his face away from me and his hands away from his pockets.

"I obviously know what I'm doing and I did what I had to do. He was like, ‘listen, you’re holding me too tight' so I loosened my grip but he got free.

“He ran off again but I caught up with him pretty quickly and got him on the ground again.

“When the police officers arrived they congratulated me on taking action.

"Unfortunately, the man was pleading his innocence and the police officers said there was no proof there was an intention to commit a crime.

“Luckily when officers checked his name on their records it showed he was wanted for another offence so he was arrested anyway which was good.

“I don’t know whether he was up to mischief or whether it was linked to what happened a few days before, we don’t know for sure.”

Dave, who runs a karate club, urged other homeowners not to copy his heroics. He said: “Hopefully I’ve got somebody off the streets that was potentially doing something wrong.

“The police can’t do everything, and it’s nice for people to be aware of that, and show that there are people out there that care about the community.”

“It was my natural instinct to go after them, but that’s something that I’m trained to do – to restrain.

“The first thing I teach to all my students is, if somebody’s got a weapon, you turn and run.

“Someone could easily be carrying a knife or needle. It’s not worth the risk to try and stop them.”

A Warwickshire Police spokesperson said: "We received a call at 3:24 a.m. on Tuesday in relation to an attempted car theft.

"A man was initially arrested for an unrelated matter."