ABSTRACT
Lord Lane CJ: ... The facts were somewhat unusual and were as follows. On the day in question the alleged victim, a man called Mason, saw a black youth seizing the handbag belonging to a woman who was shopping. He caught up with the youth and held him, he said with a view to taking him to a nearby police station, but the youth broke free from his grip. Mason caught the youth again and knocked him to the ground, and he then twisted one of the youth’s arms behind his back in order to immobilise him and to enable him, Mason, so he said, once again to take the youth to the police station. The youth was struggling and calling for help at this time, and no one disputed that fact.
