A CONSTRUCTION worker has been hailed a hero after he chased and caught a man who snatched a baby from its mother’s arms.

The horrifying incident happened just days after a separate swipe when a thief drove off with a car in Woodford Green with a sleeping infant still in the back. The car and child were found abandoned 20 minutes later on a nearby street.

In this case the terrifying ordeal began when a young man grabbed a child in Chigwell, before running off with it through the streets of Hainault.

Wanstead resident John Dillon, who was working nearby in his job as a contract worker for Redbridge Council, leapt to the rescue after the alarm was raised.

Mr Dillon, 35, said: “This woman who we had all got to know working on the street came rushing up to us saying a baby had been kidnapped.

“My first reaction was just to set after them. I’ve got two twins on the way in about five weeks, and I know if it was my baby I’d want someone to do the same.

“I ran along the streets asking which way he had gone and I just followed the direction people were pointing at.

“I caught up with him at the station. The man went on to a train but I got a guard to stop it from leaving the platform.”

A quick-thinking Mr Dillon then jumped on the train himself - and found himself confronted face-to-face with the kidnapper.

“It was eerie because he was quite calm. He didn’t really react. I saw the baby, it must have been a newborn it looked so young. I asked him to get off the train, which he did. By that point the police had arrived and took him away.”

He added: “People have been coming up to me saying I’m a hero, but I just find it silly. At the end of the day a child was involved. But at least now the people in the street where we’re working are bringing me a lot more cups of tea, which is nice.”

A police spokesman said: “following a domestic incident in Chigwell shortly before noon on Monday March 2, a man was arrested by Essex Police at Hainualt station.

“After an investigation and discussions with social services he was released without charge.”

A spokeswoman for Redbridge Police added there have been no other reports of incidents involving babies in recent weeks.