A Charlton burglary suspect fled from police along railway lines and climbed up into a tree, staying there for 17 hours and causing widespread Southeastern trains disruption.
Police closed off part of Barney Close in Charlton for most of yesterday (August 13), trying to talk him down from the branches. He was finally apprended and arrested early yesterday evening, just after the rush hour and lines finally reopened.
Chief Inspector Jenny Gilmer of British Transport Police said: "Shortly after 7pm on August 13, a man was talked down from a tree near to the rail line at Charlton.
"The man had been in the tree since the early hours of the morning and his return to the ground marked the end of a difficult and lengthy operation involving British Transport Police, Met Police, London Fire and Rescue, Network Rail and Southeastern trains.
"The 32-year-old man was subsequently arrested on suspicion of burglary and obstruction of trains with intent and he remains in police custody."
CI Gilmer added: "I'd like to thank all those who have worked tirelessly throughout the day to bring this operation to a safe conclusion and would also like to thank the local community and travelling public for their continuing patience and understanding during, what was, an extremely sensitive process."
Train passenger Joanne Stone tweeted that commuters were being told by the driver to look out for the man as they passed, like a guided tour.
She said: "Obviously didn't do a good job of hiding then as the driver was pointing him out!"
The commuter went on: "I had headphones in but he definitely said to look, just like a tour, "If you look to your left now...."
Today's train delay was caused by a man hanging from a tree at Charlton. At least it's a new reason. #southeastern
— Daniel Goble (@danielgoble) August
Train delay due to man in tree over track at Charlton. Driver - "if you look to the right you should be able to see him" #southeastern
— David Carrington (@Davcar1979) August 13, 2014
Train passenger Joanne Stone tweeted that commuters were being told by the driver to look out for the man as they passed, like a guided tour.
She said: "Obviously didn't do a good job of hiding then as the driver was pointing him out!"
The commuter went on: "I had headphones in but he definitely said to look, just like a tour, "If you look to your left now...."
But Barney Close resident Len Brown, 78, was less than impressed. He said: "He's not going anywhere is he. He's trapped, there's no way out.
"It's a lot of money spent on just one young bloke."
Services between Cannon Street and Greenwich, and between London Charing Cross and Gillingham were all affected.
A spokesman for Southeastern said: "At 3.06am this morning we received a report of a person having climbed a tree at the side of the rail line between Charlton station and Charlton Lane crossing.
"Clearly while this person remains in the tree, which overhangs the line, it wouldn’t be safe for us to run our trains in the area and so we’ve been diverting trains via Bexleyheath this morning."
How could he have been brought down?
Here at News Shopper we came up with five ways the police could get him down:
1. Coax him down with the irresistible smell of bacon sarnies
2. Tie a Taser onto the end of a stick and shock him out
3. Burn the tree down
4. Shoot one of BoJo's water cannons at him (he will probably need a good wash by now)
5. Use a chainsaw to cut the tree down
Here are some other suggestions we've had from our readers:
1. Play Justin Beiber over and over again until he comes down
2. Treat him like a cat and tap his food bowl until he comes down
3. Tranquillizer dart
4. Tempt him with some Jaffa Cakes
5. ... and my favourite, just push him out of the tree
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