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NOVELIST’S MOVE TO FIGHT CRIME IN REAL LIFE
A CRIME novelist turned crimefighter when he stopped a fleeing mobile
phone thief in his tracks.
Lance Black, 39, usually spends his time dreaming up murder
plots for his thrillers. But he used his detective instincts to apprehend a shoplifter at a mobile
phone shop.
Mr Black was in the Orange mobile store on Aberdeen’s Union Street
on Monday when he noticed another customer acting strangely. The man had asked staff if he could charge his own phone before making off with a new handset from the behind the store’s counter.
Mr Black ran out of the shop and saw the thief make his way up a cobbled side street across the road.
After grappling with him the have-a-go hero went back to the store and returned the stolen Motorola phone
to shop assistant Jody Armstrong.
Mr Black said: “The hardest part was catching him – I nearly got run over crossing the street.
I grabbed him and managed to get him down. At first he denied he had the phone but I kept at him and eventually
he produced it.”
But the encounter wasn’t over. Just as Mr Black was catching his breath
he saw the perpetrator running back towards the store. He said: “I told the girls to phone
the police but he approached me and told me he was giving the SIM card back. It was bizarre. He returned the
SIM then ran away again.”
The brave novelist hopes his actions will inspire others to take a stand. He said: “I suppose I’m trying to get the message over that people can stand up to anti-social behaviour.”
Mr Black has written two books, TERROR and DIRECT ACTION, both set in Aberdeen’s underworld.
His second novel reached No 2 on WH Smith’s Scottish list and the writer has transformed it into a script he hopes to take to Hollywood.
Orange spokeswoman said: “We would like to thank Lance Black.”
A Grampian Police spokesman said inquiries were ongoing.
DIRECT ACTION
ISBN 978-0-09555-45009
TERROR
ISBN 978-0-09555-45016
If you can’t find the books please email Lance at: lance.black@yahoo.com
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