A man has been sentenced to eight months in prison following a burglary in Radlett.

Ionel Bahnean, 25, of Clovelly Avenue, London, was sentenced to eight months in prison at St Albans Crown Court last Friday (1) and ordered to pay £100 after pleading guilty to a burglary at a home in Shenley Hill in Radlett on March 5.

Herts Police were alerted to the incident after a quick-thinking man called after seeing his neighbour’s house being burgled.

After seeing Bahnean leave the house, the neighbour followed him at a safe distance to Radlett train station, keeping police officers aware of Bahnean’s movements, including what platform and train he was getting on.

Officers were then able to find and arrest him, where he was found to have taken jewellery, an Apple Mac computer as well as other items.

Hertsmere’s Safer Neighbourhood Inspector Richard Johnson said: “Thanks to the accurate details given to us by the neighbour, we were able to get officers to the train station, arrest the man and recover all the property stolen.

“Although this was great work from the neighbour, I would like to stress to members of the public that following offenders is not always safe; please ring 999 immediately if you witness a crime giving us as much detail as possible.”

Derek Sweeney, Neighbourhood Watch Liaison Officer said: “The best way to beat crime is for us to all work together. The police need help from members of the public, businesses and other agencies to catch criminals and prevent crime, which is why we advocate people join Neighbourhood Watch.

“February saw us top 80,000 members of Neighbourhood Watch and since this burglary the neighbours have now also signed up to the scheme.

“We’re pleased to have them involved as it’s with the help of people like this, that we catch criminals.”

Visit www.owl.co.uk/herts and type in your postcode to find a local Watch scheme.