Town and Gown joined forces to nab a burglar at an Oxford college after an academic chased a crook before builders pinned him to the ground.

A don from St Hugh’s College gave chase to burglar Arron Gardner, before decorator Tony Thomas, 52, and his workmate, electrician Marc Partlett, 34, tackled him to the ground and held him until police officers arrived at about 2.15pm on Monday.

The 26-year-old from Pegasus Road, Oxford, appeared in court less than 24 hours later and was sentenced to 34 months in jail at Oxford Crown Court after admitting two counts of burglary and three of handling stolen goods.

He was caught after grabbing a laptop from a student’s room at the college in St Margaret’s Road, North Oxford.

The lecturer who helped to detain him declined to be named. He said: “A gentleman in a van saw him and came into the porter’s lodge while I was in there and said ‘do you know someone’s nicked a laptop from one of the student’s rooms? He’s outside.’ “So we went out and he had a bag with a laptop sticking out of it.

“The porter challenged him and he immediately started to run away, and I ran after him.”

The lecturer then pursued Gardner along St Margaret’s Road, across Banbury Road, and along Bardwell Road before losing him when he hopped over a fence into a garden on Northmoor Road.

From there Gardner ran from garden to garden, vaulting over fences, until he landed on the lawn of a property being renovated by Mr Partlett and Mr Thomas.

Mr Partlett explained: “Tony spotted him first and banged on the window to get his attention.

“I think he said to Tony ‘you’ll have to catch me first’ – which he did. Tony’s an old footballer and fit for his age.

“He was the one who stopped him and got him under control.

“When I got there he had him round the middle and I helped to get him out of the road and we waited for the police.

“He was pleading with us, saying he would go back to jail.”

The academic then came around the corner. He said: “They did a fantastic job and were being very calm.”

Gardner was also jailed for an earlier burglary which happened on October 10 last year at Tudor Close, Iffley, where he used a cane from the garden to fish through the letterbox of the house to lift the catch from the inside.

Dc Charlie Ellis said: “Judge King expressed his gratitude, which I would also like to echo, towards the members of the public that were responsible. Without this quick thinking there is a possibility that Gardner would have got away.”