A BRAVE businessman turned detective to quickly track down the thieves who stole his phone – then fearlessly got it back, with his pals’ help.

Des Moylan, who owns Moylans, in Leigh Broadway, was working when sneaky crooks slipped in and grabbed his iPhone.

Des soon realised it was gone and sprang into action.

He said: “I searched for it and rang it, but couldn’t find it.

“So I went on my computer, loaded up the Find My iPhone app and it showed up on London Road.

“I thought ‘What do I do?’ The phone was moving towards Southend.

“So I ran down to my mate Qazim Zyberi, who owns nearby Leigh car wash and runs a security firm, and we jumped in the car and gave chase. My brother Neil was in the shop on the Mac directing us.

“You could see the phone moving as a little blip on the screen. I thought ‘there’s no way we are going to get them’.”

The pair pursued the crooks through the back streets of Westcliff, they went up to Chalkwell Park then on to Valkyrie Road.

Des added: “Finally, my brother said they had gone down Hamlet Court Road.

“We turned into the road and spotted these two guys. We screeched up the kerb and got out. We pinned them against the wall and I said ‘where’s my phone?

“They couldn’t hand the phone back quick enough, while blaming each other. It was hilarious really.

“It was like a scene out of The Sweeney! It certainly got the adrenaline pumping.”

The friends had originally planned to put the thieves in the car and call the police, but decided against it and sent them away with a flea in their ears instead.

Des added: “We were going to do a citizen’s arrest, but I didn’t want them in my car to be honest, they didn’t smell too good.

“One was about 50 and the other one was about 19. They both had cans of Stella.

“We said ‘don’t show your faces back in Leigh’.”