Tackle that felled a knifeman

Simon Smith, 32, today told how the brazen thief slid an eight-inch blade from a sleeve then tried to stab him after being confronted at a store in Fort Kinnaird Shopping Centre.

A vigilant shopper tripped the yob as he fled giving Mr Smith just enough time to make a tackle in the mall's car park and then detain the crook until police arrived.

Mr Smith, a senior team leader for Vision Security Group, said: "That day I was patrolling the area as usual when I got a radio call asking me to come across to a shop where there was a male acting suspiciously.

"I went in and spoke to the manageress but pretty soon this guy came walking out of the door carrying an armful of stock worth around 400.

"I asked him to step back inside the doors because he was about to set off the alarm, when he pulled out a knife. I didn't even see the knife until it was at my stomach because he had slid it out of his sleeve.

"We had a wee altercation where he basically tried to stab me a few times. Without going into detail I managed to numb a nerve in his arm but then he bolted.Luckily, a member of the public tripped him up as he was running past. I'm not really built for running but that bought me the few seconds I needed to put in a tackle that (Edinburgh-born rugby star] Jason White would have been proud of. After falling, the guy bolted back to his feet but by that point I was mid-way through the air to put in the tackle.

"Soon, the rest of the security team and I disarmed the guy and waited for police."

The robber was later sentenced to four months in jail.

Asked what was going through his mind when was at knife-point, Mr Smith, a former prop with Liberton RFC, said: "I was a bit upset actually because I had tickets for the Scotland match at Millennium Stadium and I thought: 'You're not going to do me today.'"

He added: "This kind of thing is very rare at Fort Kinnaird and is the first of its kind I have been involved in. That member of the public is the bravest guy I have ever met. He had no idea what the guy was carrying."

Mr Smith will receive an Outstanding Act gong at the British Security Industry Association's awards bash in July.

Liam Smith, Fort Kinnaird centre manager, said Mr Smith's bravery ensured the public weren't harmed in the robbery. "Simon gave no thought to his own safety but reacted with split-second timing to disarm and detain this individual.

"His selfless reaction has ensured customers and staff of the centre remained safe throughout the whole ordeal."