A POLICE chief led by example when he spotted a burglary while he was out keeping tabs on his officers.

Mike Craik, who took up his post as deputy Chief Constable of Northumbria Police yesterday, took off in hot pursuit.

He responded to an alarm while out on patrol with officers from Whitechapel as he came to the end of his stint as commander in charge of the CID for North London.

Mr Craik said: "I found one of them hiding under a bush on a towpath. It was right at the end of the shift, but we went along and managed to find him."

Mr Craik, 46, was born in Newcastle and educated at the city's Heaton Grammar School and Newcastle University before joining the Met in 1977. His father and grandfather were both police officers in the North-East.

Last Friday, his last day in the Metropolitan Police, Mr Craik had the satisfaction of seeing London nail-bomber David Copeland receive six life sentences.

Mr Craik was the police spokesman following the Brick Lane blast and was head of crime for that part of East London for two years.