Man who died chasing thief: suspect found

A man has been arrested on suspicion of stealing a mobile phone from a student moments before a bus hit the victim.

David Schofield was knocked down and killed on Oxford Road while chasing a thief who stole his mobile phone.

The suspected thief was arrested after one of Mr Schofield’s friends noticed she had been deleted from his BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) contacts. She sent a message to the phone asking to be added as a friend.

The friend request was acknowledged and the person sent a picture and the name “Berry”. After sending a response detailing Mr Schofield’s death and the theft of the phone, she was deleted again and her number blocked.

The suspect appears to have handed himself in: police said he walked into Longsight police station on 21^st September and was arrested on suspicion of theft. They questioned him and released him on bail.

Mr Schofield died the day after being knocked down. Over 220 people attended a vigil a week after his death at the scene of the accident.

Two women told the bus driver that Mr Schofield had been the victim of a theft shortly before the collision. Police have been unable to find the women. CCTV footage shows Mr Schofield chasing a man on a bicycle.