A HAVE-A-GO hero rugby tackled a copper thief who carelessly put people’s lives in danger.

Leon Stirling woke to a strange “sawing” noise in the garage beneath the block of flats where he lives, in Park Street, Westcliff.

He investigated and found a man standing on the bumper of his car trying to steal the overhead gas pipes.

Meanwhile, gas flooded into the block of flats, creating the risk of an explosion. The block was later evacuated.

Mr Stirling, 30, said: “I asked him what he was doing. He had a bit of copper pipe in his hands.

“He was coming towards me, saying ‘I don’t want to hurt you’.”

But Mr Stirling stood firm and the man ran off.

Mr Stirling chased him to the corner of London Road, where he carried out a citizen’s arrest.

He said: “I jumped on him, we had a bit of a scuffle and a few fists were flying. He managed to get up and run down Queens Road, where I grabbed the pipe out of his hands.

“He fell on the floor and a couple of the neighbours thought I was beating him up, but I told them this guy had put all our lives at risk and asked them to ring the police.”

Firefighters were also called to the scene, at about 5.30am on Saturday, and quickly evacuated the four flats in case a spark was triggered.

They made the gas supply safe, but residents have now been left without heating or hot water.

Mr Stirling’s girlfriend, Cherokee Curtis, 30, said: “It could have exploded and killed everyone in the block. If a spark had gone off, he could’ve killed himself too.”

Police have arrested a 36-year-old man, from Southend.