Leeds nostalgia: PC who chased suspect two miles... on foot - plus the home made whiskey stills discovered in Leeds

The two-mile chase began at 1.30am on January 21, 1948, after PC Arthur Simpson, an ex-rugby player, went to investigate a noise he heard at Harry Hyman’s drapers shop on York Road.

He discovered a shop breaker, one Sam Greaves, 35, of no fixed address, who immediately fled the scene, running up York Road towards Cross Gates.

PC Simpson gave chase... and two miles later the pair were still running. The chase only ended when Greaves, exhausted stumbled across some waste ground, at which point he apparently became violent. PC Simpson was assisted in his arrest by another officer, PC Knott and Greaves was remanded in custody until January 29.

In other news, the first prosecutions for 17 years for making whiskey illegally were brought before Leeds Stipendiary Magistrate Ronald Sykes - there was even a picture of the ‘still’ in the Yorkshire Evening Post.

The court heard how one of the defendants had learned the process while a prisoner-of-war, while another had learned it on his native Eire.

In court, four defendants - three men and one woman, a mother of eight - pleaded guilty.

One of the four, John Horan, was a POW in Prussia and Poland for five years. Investigators said the seals of the still were made of bakers dough. They also found a “beastly concoction” of apples, yeast and raisins steeped in water, together with other equipment. Fourteen Irish men were also said to be living at the house.