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Subscribe to RSSA robbery suspect is dropped off at a police station in England by a mysterious "Batman" who then disappears into the night. NBCNews.com's Dara Brown reports.
LONDON - A mystery man dressed as Batman demonstrated the same crime-fighting skills as the caped crusader when he handed over a suspect wanted for burglary in Britain.
Surveillance footage showed a portly figure wearing an ill-fitting costume including gloves, cape and mask, bringing a 27-year-old man to a police station in Bradford in northern England.
The suspect was arrested and charged with handling stolen goods and fraud-related offences, according to the force. But the costumed crime-fighter disappeared into the night without leaving his name.
"The person who brought the wanted man into the station was dressed in a full Batman outfit," a spokeswoman for West Yorkshire Police said. "His identity, however, remains unknown."
The suspect was handed over early on February 25. Police released photos of the footage Monday.
Related:
'Fairy tale': Soccer team assembled for $10,000 slays English giants
From Feb. 2011: Costumed crusaders taking it to the streets
Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Leave a Comment:
Lets hear it for the caped crusader.
Is it just me or shouldn't they have detained this nut case? He obliviously needs some therapy before he gets his self killed.
"a portly figure wearing an ill-fitting costume" He probably ate Robin! pfft!pow!
is that BATMAN , looks to be more like FATMAN !!!
And what heroism have you accomplished lately?
Holy, Too many creamed filled Bat-Twinkees!
A hero will rise...
Same as you. Posted on an Internet forum.
West Yorkshire is being renamed "Got-him" City.
They did ..... right after Batman brought him in.
Cops: We didn't say 'thank you'
Batman: You'll never have to.
Doesn't matter what costume the guy wore.......bringing in a crook...makes him a hero! I for one will be tuned in to the same Bat Channel to see him bring in more criminals!
GF-Dog...good one....!
Imagine how the criminal must feel....having the cops and trial all mentioning he was captured by Batman...then when he goes to jail all the cell mates will be laughing at the perp!....This guy will be branded for life!
Smart thinking for concealing his identity. I think if I had to embarass the crap out of a "petty thief" (who is likely stealing for drug money and could therefore be crazy enough to seek retaliation), I probably wouldn't want there to be any chance he could find me again.
on mega scale, what would happen if: Citizen Arrests turned all illegals in ??........
Reminds me of the movie Kickass
Seriously "Texas"??? This guy helped law enforcement and you want to punish him too?
YOU are what's wrong with society these days!
Kudos Batman!!!! :)
"Right on Batman."
You got it, Bologna Sandwich: Like so many Texans, all hat and no cattle.
@ Texas...No...It is just you...And detain him for just what exactly?...Bringing in a criminal?...Balogna has it right...
he needs to come back to the USA!!
Citizens, .....let this be a lesson ....to all bungling ....burglars....that crime does not pay!
This bungling burglar .....now has a debt to pay back to society, and we can only hope this.... frauding fiend .....will mend his ways...and return to society as a well adjusted citizen.
To all those aspiring caped crusaders out there, keep your Bat poles well polished, so as to be ready to aid those citizens in your community at a seconds notice!
Looks like Batman has a beer gut and man boobs :)
also - to those 'aspiring caped crusaders' - you dont need $, just a love of Justice.
the batcave isnt needed either ;)
how did he get him to the police station ? he says '' i'm batman, come with me'', and the guy went?
maybe he had a bat...and who can resist a ride in a bat mobile...to a police station...
Support your police! That's our message.
Is he fully deputized?
Shine the Bat Signal's Klieg searchlight onto the clouds at night ...and see who responds. I'd love to see what his civilian makeover, "Batmobile" looks like.
While I applaud this guys actions for turning in a criminal I would also like to point out that he demonstrates exactly what is wrong with society today in that he seems to have trouble separating reality from fantasy.
Dave, I disagree. There's no reason to think the guy actually believes he's Batman. It's far more likely that he simply shares the same ideals and does this as an homage, or just wanted a costume and decided to go with Batman because of its associations and funniness. What's wrong with society is a legion of armchair psychologists that nitpick every good deed because cynicism is the 'cool' philosophy, instead of praising the guy and following his example.
Well duh, he doesnt have to leave his name...he's Batman, helloooooo (-:
Absolutely, NY, since when does Bruce Wayne leave a calling card with his name and address?
When did Batman move to the UK?
I guess that explains the upsurge in crime and violence in this country.
Hey Skip,
Violent Crime rates are near all time lows. Homicides rates are near 1960's levels.
The violent crime rate in the UK is actually about 5 times higher than the US.
Dawgfan, that's why the bat is needed over in the UK. He's obviously been succesfull here (except in Chicago), so now he can clean up their streets.
Locations used as inspiration or filming locations for the urban portion of Gotham City in the live-action Batman films have included New York City, Los Angeles, West London, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Newark, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and St Neots, while British country house locations in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire have been used to depict the less urban scene of Wayne Manor.
He's just part of the 1%. He has properties all over the world. I can't believe any OWS would like/support Batman.
Notice the locations above. Some of the most violent, crime filled cities in the Industrialized world.
"When did Batman move to the UK?"
Actually, Bruce Wayne's manor (the house in which he lives with his British butler) as shown in The Dark Knight Rises was filmed in Wollaton Hall, which is in Nottingham England...
I guess Gotham just isn't what it use to be.
Dawgfan, please stop pulling fictional crime numbers out of your ar$e.
I bet it was Bruce Wayne!
We all know it's Bruce Wayne!
tisdales,
Homicide rate in 1963 was 4.3 per 100,000. Last year it was 4.8 per 100,000. It was an all time high was in 1980 when the rate was 10.2 homicides per 100,000.
Violent Crime Rate in the US 2011 was 386.3 per 100,000. Violent Crime Rate in the UK was 2,034 per 100,000.
All numbers are easily verified thru govt websites.
Dawg's right. Multiculturalism is turning Britain into a cesspool. The US is safer.
Tisdales just bought into the media’s portrayal of violent crime and the government’s agenda to force us into communism. Rather than look at the facts and statistics they listen to and believe what they are told. baaahh baaahh goes the sheep.
I don't know why but I'm laughing so hard I'm crying, I love articles like this they just make my day!
Dawgfan, the rare poster that backs up claims with verifiable information. Well done.
Tisdale... the ball's in your court, any rebuttal?
Per Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violent_crime
US = 10.9 / 1000
UK = 31 / 1000
There are differences in what is considered a violent crime and how they are reported between the two countries that make direct comparison difficult.
From Wikipedia:
Homicide Rates : US = 4.8/100,000 UK = 1.2/100,000
Rape Rates : US = 27.3/100,000 UK = 28.8/100,000
Subheading under rape stats : rape by stranger : US = 26% UK = 11%
Not sure I would consider the UK a more violent country than the US. In the US you are more than three times as likely to be murdered than in the UK, and more than twice as likely to be raped by a stranger off the streets.
The violent crime stats listed by @someotherguy are not directly comparable because the UK considers a lot more things as violent crime than the US. Like date rape and simple assaults. If you look crime by crime, you will see that rates in the UK are higher for smaller violent crimes, but lower for the big ones (murder, rape, assault with a deadly weapon, etc.).
So, you believe everything you read on wikipeida?... you probably believe everything you read on snopes too, LMAO. Look at the actual sources and you'll get the correct information.
Dawgfan... you actually trust those websites?... RLMFAO!
Wow! US and UK crime rates are almost enough to make you want to move to Iceland, almost.
Iceland motto: "Our crime rates are as frozen as our asses." or "It's too cold to kill anyone today".
erm... do any of you guys know who writes the info that you rely on in Wikipedia?
Anyone can go to those pages and edit and write whatever comes to his head.
Try it yourself, go now to those pages and click edit and you too can edit whatever you want there.
Stupid people change info there on a daily basis in every article, each contradict one another back and forth, deleting what the other wrote the previous day...
Stu,
The FBI Uniform Crime Report and the British Crime Survey aren't wikipedia or snopes. I like to read thru the actual data that has been collected from police departments and find actual numbers. Not the sugar coated lib version that gets put out in the media.
Damyou,
I've spent a good bit on security for my custom house. Steel doors with steel frames which won't be kicked in. Security System with monitoring. 16 Video Cameras around the house and property. Safe/panic room constructed of steel reinforced concrete floor, walls, and ceiling. Sustainable ventilation system, Quick access safe's around the house containing an assortment of weapons. The safe room contains three 1,400 lbs safes and contain 26 firearms and over 40,000 rounds of ammo. I have a couple Mossbergs loaded with protection rounds. 1oz slug with buckshot on top. I have AR's and other similar weapons if it gets downrite nasty including an M16a2, M1919, and M107, but those are mainly for target/competion shooting.
Well Dawg, I guess that explains why Batman immigrated to the UK.
@Mjolnir-889746 - I think you have Iceland mixed up with Greenland.
Greenland is the one with Arctic temperatures, and is always snowy/icy. Iceland is the one with relatively mild temperatures and is usually green.
Alant98,
If that is true go to a web site page and at the bottom write Deebo is cool. Come back and tell me what page site you edited is.
I want to see this.
I know, I made the comment in regard to Iceland's crime rates. Relatively speaking, it is warm in comparison to Greenland, but it's no tropical paradise either.
I know my own ass froze off and swam unassisted to Cuba on it's own accord during a military deployment in Iceland. It remains there to this day and I'm hoping to see it on an inner tube approaching Miami Beach any day.
I could also use the money the US government gives to Cuban illegals under the Cuban Adjustment Act when they arrive. It may be entirely made of ass, but it's less ass than most of the others arriving the same way, and there's a good chance it'll speak some form of bastardized Spanish when it gets here.
guns are for cowards.
happiness is a warm gun...
@dawgfan - it really depends on what you class as violent crime. Believe me that over here in the UK we don't feel the need to sleep with a loaded gun within reach, but we do like to get drunk and fight.
Dawgfan- I saw a sticker the other day that would be perfect for you (I want one so bad) it says-
"Welcome to my home. That door you just kicked in, was locked for YOUR protection, not mine."
With a picture of a glock.
All is safe in Gotham!
Where the hell is Gotham supposed to be anyway, RIposter?
Gotham was originally supposed to be New York, but was changed to a fictional city so that anyone could identify with it. Still, "Gotham" is a nickname for NYC that's been in use since long before Batman was created. It started out as an insult: "Got" + "ham" = "town full of goats/idiots".
You mean London?
"Gotham was originally supposed to be New York"
Thanks, yeahbuhwha! I was wondering whether DC Comics ever gave that city a location. I used to devour comic books when I was a kid, but that was approximately 10 million years ago, give or take a million, so I didn't remember.
I thought Metropolis would be New York in the DC Universe.
In the last Batman movie, they didn't even bother trying to disguise New York and make it look a little different. You could even see the new World Trade Center being built.
come on,
metropolis, was a hop skip and a jump from smallville, Kansas, so New york city would not fit the bill.
ks1971,
"metropolis, was a hop skip and a jump from smallville"
Sure it was a hop skip and a jump if you are Superman and can leap tall buildings with a single bound. That could have been a long jump for most of us.
thank god hes back on the streets....
His name is Bruce Wayne !
After a couple of "Jokers" appearing in the news last year, I'm glad Batman is back in action.
The joker is in Washington D.C. go get him Batman!
He may be described as "a portly man", but he still has a better physique for a crime fighter than Adam West ever had.
Too many Jokers and too few Batmans in the world today.
Don't super heroes have some kind of weight control program? I've never seen a super hero looking so out of shape, although you do have a point with Adam West, Mjolnir.
They do, but you try telling the Hulk or the Thing they need to shed a few pounds. Plus, you would get sued by the Superheroes and Crimefighters Union for disparate treatment under the local contract.
Mjolnir,
"They do, but you try telling the Hulk or the Thing they need to shed a few pounds."
Oh! The Hulk and the Thing were Marvel Comics heroes; not DC Comics. Maybe Marvel doesn't have a weight control program for their heroes. Remember Goom? That big, fat, orange monster who came bursting up out of the ground shouting, "I am Goom!!!!" He was a Marvel Comics character, too.
Yeah, you gotta think Marvel had a stronger collective bargaining unit. Superman was DC, but by all accounts he was a illegal Kryptonion scab and didn't join the local.
I know for a fact the Fortress of Solitude was not constructed by union labor and this put a strain on his relationship with Aquaman, the local union president (he wasn't really qualified to be a "Superhero" so he was heavily involved in union politics).
Mjolnir,
"I know for a fact the Fortress of Solitude was not constructed by union labor and this put a strain on his relationship with Aquaman, the local union president (he wasn't really qualified to be a "Superhero" so he was heavily involved in union politics)."
I think Superman constructed the Fortress of Solitude single handed so he didn't need any union workers, but I didn't know Aquaman was a union leader. There's something fishy about that. Anyway, I remember when comic books only cost 10 cents apiece. I got 25 cents a week allowance from my parents so I used to go every week and buy two comic books and a candy bar with it. Now comic books are more than a dollar apiece, and I don't know how kids can afford them anymore. But now, I guess, most kids play video games instead. Too bad for the comics! It must be due to union labor. It's all Aquaman's fault!
"There's something fishy about that." Brilliant! I cannot believe I missed out on that.
True Mickey, I remember getting on my bike and riding into town for my monthly Spiderman fix, I had a stack of issues from the early seventies that would be worth a small fortune if my mom hadn't thrown them in the trash along with all my football cards when I went into the Navy. I suppose moms are the primary reason old comics are so rare and valuable.
Mjolnir,
"I suppose moms are the primary reason old comics are so rare and valuable."
I think that's true. I came from a big family with 5 brothers and three sisters, we all bought comic books with our allowances. We had a big, gigantic box full of old comic books that our mother made us throw out when we moved. Those comics would be worth a small fortune now. But Moms seem to have little appreciation for history. How is it that your parents named you after Thor's hammer, Mjollnir? I guess you'll ask me how mine name me after Mickey Mouse. So you were in the Navy? I was in the Air Force. Nice to meet you, Mjolnir.
The pot-belly is merely part of the costume. It has a two-part function in that it helps conceal the heroes alter-ego, as well as creates a false sense of confidence in the villain.
That makes a lot of sense Bob, I'm always trying to convince my wife that under the protective bubble wrap lies washboard abs.
@ Mickey, a pleasure Sir. My dad was a B-47 pilot and I'm an Air Force brat. My name is more an indication of my personality than my than any sense of Norse history on my parent's part. I think as we age we can take whatever name for ourselves that suits us, since our parents had no idea who we would be when we matured.
I think your all super heros :)
Mjolnir,
"our parents had no idea who we would be when we matured."
Who or what. An Air Force brat, huh? That's more than I can say! I was just a brat, at least that's what my father thought.
Send for him by the Bat Signal.
Here's something to look forward to in a gun free America... relying on "masked men" for protection. Screw unalienable human rights, all we need is the justice league!
this is really funny; the brits have a very reserved sense of humor.
the pengy is on the telly. thats reserved i suppose, dont get monty python humor, no matter how many times i watch ,bring out your dead or what is the air speed volocity of an unladen swallow; i dont think its funny -at all.
Send him to Chicago!
Chicago, heck! Send him to Washington D.C.
Christian Bale?
I think George Cloney's been to DC...............That didn't work out too well.
Hahahahaha! DC comics! It works!
The "portly" jab was probably a weak attempt to get the guy to come forward and defend his abs. And why did they have to slam his mum for the "ill-fitting" costume?
Love it! A guy dressed like a superhero out actually doing good deeds! He is a superhero!
Well done portly crusader! This is such a good article! :)
"portly man in ill fitting costume" will describe most seattle cops
And not just a few of it's residents in general, 56. Of course, if you really want ill-fitting you'll be better served driving down to Olympia "where the depressing streets are slick from slackers drool, not rain".
Batman really let himself go as of late :l
The next one to show up wil be "The Incredible Bulk"! He will be a 500 lb. man painted green, who nabs speeders i n school crossing zones! He throws himself in front of cars,you come to a stop because you dont want to wreck your car on his obese body.
Well that wouldn't be incredible anymore, more like the blob. But he's a bad guy.
Check out this cat in Seattle.... ........ His name is "Phoenix Jones" wears a "Spawn-like" costume, and even has a criminal case for assualt, but is still fighting crime in the 'Emerald City'.
hahhaahah lmao again i just went online and read up on phoenix jones hahahaha lmao he is really out there he has lost his dam mind hahahahah he goes behind a wall with books and comes out in this space suit hahahahahahah im laffin as im typing this in.. he got his nose broke and pepper spayed in the face. by a female . he did catch a car thief. and he walks through dark ass alleys. looking for crime. hahahaha . this man is really dressed up in in a gold and black spawn-like suit lol. dc comic is really bad for some people to read hahahahahaha he is seriously catching criminals in seattle hahahahahah omg. im going to get me a sexy catwoman suit, get a good shock of good whiskey and im going to find me a crook to arrest hahahahahahaha phoenix jones hahahahaha ..and he has a hard body. dc comic------shame on you
I wonder why they felt it was necessary to "blur" out Batman's face. Are they afraid someone might actually recognize who it is??
yes in deedy....he probably works for the queen of england.. guard.
Good guys 1. I love these comments. I've been LMAO.
Me too, but I'm not feeling I have much to add...
If this had happened in the US, "Batman" would be searched for, arrested, tried, and convicted for vigilante crimes.
Not to mention sent for psychiatric screening.
...while the criminals have at it! :P
Yes yes yes!
Hey!!
I'm not portly, the camera adds ten pounds... lmao.
AQ-3307763
Well, only if he actually assaulted the suspect. There is such a thing as a citizen's arrest, people just largely choose not to engage in it.
I just don't think I'd willfully be taken to the police station by a guy in a batman costume. How embarrassing. "Say, aren't you that guy who was brought here by Batman?" He's definitely washing everybody's underwear in jail.
Good job Batman.
My work here is done!