Man who tripped up suspected drug dealer was off-duty soldier on early Valentine's date

'I heard a shout, ‘Stop! Police!’ and immediately my military training just kicked in'

Lance Sergeant Matthew Lawson, 37 tripping up a drug dealer

(Kingston Police)

The man caught on CCTV tripping up a suspected drug dealer running from the police was a soldier having an early Valentine's night out with his wife.

Lance Sergeant Matthew Lawson of the Band of the Scots Guards has been described by Kingston Police as a "legend" for his actions.

Footage of the 37-year-old soldier was shared by thousands after he was seen casually tripping up the suspect before walking on with his wife.

Lance Sgt Lawson told the Evening Standard: "I heard a shout, ‘Stop! Police!’ and immediately my military training just kicked in.

"I saw the policemen chasing a guy and I thought, ‘He’s a bit of a whippet, they’ll never catch him’, so I reckoned I’d buy them a few seconds and just stuck my leg out to trip him up.

"The guy fell and as the police grabbed him, they called back, ‘Cheers, mate, thank you’ and my wife and I just continued on our way and thought nothing more of it."

A 17-year-old has been bailed until April after being arrested on suspicion of possessing Class A drugs with intent to supply.

Chief Superintendent Glenn Tunstall, Kingston borough commander, said: "While we obviously do not encourage members of the public to intervene in such situations, especially as the level of threat from the individual is unknown to them, on this occasion, the bravery, courage and subtlety of Matthew’s intervention clearly helped us to detain this individual.

"I am also not surprised that when we consider the words bravery and courage that the individual that we have been looking for turns out to be a member of the military."