A PAIR of have-a-go heroes chased and caught a watch thief while they were out engagement ring shopping.

Tom Workman and his best man Conor O’Malley were at Fraser Hart jewellers in the city centre on Thursday when a teenager stole a £14,500 Rolex watch and ran off down the High Street.

The two friends pursued the young shoplifter before Mr Workman was able to rugby tackle him and they then pinned him down while the police arrived to make the arrest.

“We weren’t scared, the adrenaline was going,” said Mr Workman, 27. “I didn’t even know whether he had anything, it was just someone shouted, ‘stop him!’ and we chased him down.”

The hopeful groom-to-be said his partner Rosie Black “has no idea” about his heroics or that he plans to propose in a month’s time.

“When I saw her at home, I couldn’t tell her,” he told the Worcester News. “I just had to say it’d been a normal boring day at work.”

While holding out some hope that Miss Black, also 27, won’t find out before he can pop the question, he said he more than likely will have to come clean if she sees this article.

Mr Workman and Mr O’Malley had been to a few jewellery stores before arriving at Fraser Hart in the High Street– also a registered Rolex dealer – at around 3.30pm.

A shop assistant was at the back of the store with a young male letting him try on different Rolex watches, while the two friends were in the middle browsing the rings.

“We had our backs to them – the next thing we knew the shop assistant screams, and we thought she’d dropped something.

“Then she shouted: ‘Stop him!’ The guy ran passed us out the store.

“We chased after him down the High Street and managed to get the Rolex off him.”

Mr Workman said the thief was very slow in his getaway and they only had to chase him about 50 metres and then when he was pinned down, he “kept apologising and asked us to let him go.”

Mr Workman joked the man wasn’t a very good thief and should find a new profession, and said the watch was on his wrist with the price tag attached.

He praised the police who he said arrived in three cars within a couple of minutes and thanked the two heroes.

Mr Workman said the Fraser Hart staff locked down the store during the incident, while security from other nearby stores came out to give a hand and capture footage on their bodycams.

The jewellery store has promised a discounted engagement ring and he hopes to get the CCTV footage to play during his wedding speech.

The couple, from Evesham, have been dating for around two years but first met at school when they were 13.

A spokesman for West Mercia Police said: “A Rolex watch was recovered from a male at 3.45pm. Police were called after a suspicious male was stopped outside the store. He arrested for shoplifting.”

It is understood the thief was 15-years-old.

Fraser Hart did not provide a comment before we went to print.

If you have any information call 101 and quote reference number 431S of May 16.