My husband foiled a theft at the Saatchi Gallery – and was rewarded with a night in the cells
Back in October, in the same week that David Cameron was trying to persuade his party conference of the merits of the Big Society, my husband Anthony did what the Prime Minister urged and tried to help someone in need. As a result, he spent a night behind bars.
Here’s what happened. We were guests at the glitzy preview night of a new art charity show called The Art of Giving at the Saatchi Gallery on King’s Road in London. Towards the close of the evening, amid the hubbub and the plying of prosecco, a drama started. One of the event’s curators had left her laptop and phone lying around, and somebody had stolen them. She screamed for help. Anthony was standing nearby. He told her he would run for security.
Clattering down the stairs, he passed a man with a bulging jacket and a furtive look. Anthony noticed a laptop poking out of his jacket and a mobile phone in his hand. My husband, rather bravely I think, intervened. ‘I don’t think that’s yours, is it?’ he said. ‘Um, well, er,’ stammered the man. ‘Shall I take those back?’ Anthony went on. Gently but firmly, he retrieved the stolen goods from the thief and led him by the elbow to one of the front-desk security guards. It seemed a classic — and surprisingly peaceful — citizen’s arrest.
This should have been the end of the story: husband thanked and praised by grateful security staff, managers of gallery, and victim of crime. Instead, the victim, seeing Anthony holding her stolen goods, failed to recognise him as the man who had rushed to help her.
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