A YM reader has been praised by the Metropolitan Police for stopping an alleged robber in his tracks by whacking him with a copy of his latest issue!!

Despatch rider Max Lieberson, 51, spotted a 6ft 2ins would-be felon running away from a Boots pharmacy in Fitzrovia, in London’s West End hotly pursued by a security guard.

Max, a wiry former Devonian trawlerman and solo sailor, stepped in the fugitive’s path and told him he was making a citizen’s arrest. The thought-to-be thief then said: “I’m HIV positive and I’ve got a knife, get out of the way or I’ll stab you.”

Max is not a man you can stop in a hurry and he coshed the apparent recidivist with his rolled up copy of June’s Yachting Monthly.

“You shouldn’t worry about all those advertising inserts,’ said Max, ‘the mag carries quite a punch: it certainly stopped him in his tracks.”

A plain clothes policeman then arrested the 33-year-old fellow on suspicion of shop-lifting and using threatening behaviour. He was later released on police bail.