TWO officers who knocked a criminal off his moped and gave chase on foot have been commended by a judge.

PC Russell Mellis and PC George Anckorn spotted a man driving a stolen scooter on Hornsey Road at the Junction with Highgate Hill.

PC Mellis chased the suspect in a marked car before knocking him off using a “tactical contact” at the junction of Hamp­stead Lane and Highgate High Street in January.

PC Anckorn then pursued the suspect on foot and arres­ted 19-year-old Abdirizak Kheyre in possession of ecstasy, cocaine and a kitchen knife.

He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, poss­ession of a bladed article, possession of drugs, driving with no insurance and driving licence, and breach of a CBO, which banned him from having more than one phone.

At Southwark Crown Court on Friday Judge Tony Badenoch QC praised the “combined skill of the officers in exceptionally difficult circumstances”.

Kheyre, of no fixed address, was sentenced to 21 months in a young offender institution.