BRAVE women from Horrabridge have been praised by the community for preventing a substantial theft, which led to the arrest of two men.

Around ten women from the Horrabridge area have been hailed as West Devon’s own superheroes thanks to their quick thinking.

At around 8.45am on Monday, the police received a call informing them that there were two men seen acting suspiciously in a garden in Fillace Park, close to Horrabridge Primary School.

The call had been made by one of the mums who had returned home from dropping her daughter to school to find the men at the side of her property, reportedly helping themselves to lead, worth approximately £2,000, and loading the material into their transit van.

The men were confronted by a few mums led by Tracey Lumley, 33, a mum of four who was on her way back from dropping her children off at school. Tracey quickly parked in front of the van — an action that was quickly followed by another mum who parked to the side of the van so it could not be driven off.’

By this point, other mums had been made aware of the commotion and banded together to keep the men at bay until the police arrived — they surrounded the men and even forced them to put the lead back.

Tracey said that at the time she initially thought the woman, whose property it was they were stealing from, had been involved in a car accident as she was taking pictures of the van’s licence plate, so went to check on the lady.

‘The road at the time was in absolute bedlam and there was traffic chaos but when I was told what was happening I blocked my car in front of the van and another mum parked to the side of the van in order to stop the robbers.’

Tracey added that the community showed their true strength by banding together. She said: ‘Even though we all have busy lives it is nice to know that we can rely on each other to help when needed.’

PC Steve Hall, the officer in charge of the incident, said the police were ‘really impressed’ with the local mums who managed to stop the thieves.

‘The mums worked together and were very calm and acted with real professionalism in their actions.

‘They worked together to stop these people getting away. It goes to show that neighbourhoods working together really does work.’

Following the incident, one man was cautioned and the other helping police with the ongoing investigation.