A plucky pastor tackled a thief who stole his laptop from chapel.

David Campbell, pastor at Bethel Baptist Chapel in Holywell, said he felt sorry for David Benbow, who was wasting his life through alcohol, drugs and crime.

But he could not simply let him get away with it, he explained at the weekend.

A court heard on Friday afternoon how Benbow went to the chapel to seek help - but ended up stealing the laptop from the pulpit.

When the pastor saw him the following day and said he wanted it back, the defendant assaulted him and tried to get away.

But the Mr Campbell was having none of it and took him to the ground.

At North East Wales Magistrates Court at Mold, Benbow, 46, of Old Chester Road in Holywell, was jailed for six months after he admitted stealing the laptop, assaulting the pastor, together with a number of shoplifting offences.

He was also made the subject of a two year criminal behaviour order which among other things bans him from Holywell.

Prosecutor Justin Espie said Benbow attended a service at the chapel on June 2 and asked to speak to the minister alone.

Mr Campbell took him to the sanctuary area of the chapel and tried to help him with issues he had in his personal life.

Benbow walked off, did not return and it was discovered that the minister's laptop computer had been taken from the pulpit. A check on CCTV showed that Benbow was responsible.

The prosecutor said that the next day, the minister was walking with his wife in Holywell when he saw the defendant, attempted to engage with him and he said he wanted the laptop back.

Benbow said he did not remember anything like that and started to walk off.

The minister followed him and contacted the police, Benbow became agitated and turned around and threw a bag of protein powder at him, which struck him on the forehead.

Benbow continued to walk away, threatening "I will f...ing kill you" and "I will stab you" and added "do you want hepatitis?"

Gary Harvey, defending, said his client went to the chapel for help and ended up committing "a sneak theft".

It was unpleasant and unsavoury, he said.

When he was confronted in the street there was a minor assault on the pastor.

But he said the pastor was "clearly quite robust by anyone's standards" because he had "swiped him to the ground".

Benbow, he said, was a big lad, some six feet tall, who had previous convictions for 172 offences.

He was a drug addict who had no family, he could sometimes be quite engaging and at times he had been able to get off the drugs following rehabilitation. The defendant was now drinking to excess.

His client could not really remember committing the offences because he had been "intoxicated for days and days."

Benbow also admitted being in breach of his post sentence supervision, together with thefts from Home Bargains, Iceland and Tesco in Holywell.

The pastor later told how he had been on the way to chapel, saw Benbow with a bottle of wine, and tried to reach out to him.

"I stopped to speak to him and told him that God loves you and that he has something better for you," he explained.

The pastor, who has been at Bethel since January, 2014, said Benbow stole his laptop and the following day when he saw him in the street he initially gave him the slip.

He drove to where he believed Benbow was staying but he tried to duck into The Feathers public house where he was not allowed in.

"I confronted him again and I told him I had North Wales Police on the phone and that he needed to sit down until they came.

Benbow said "if you want it" and threw a bag of protein at him which struck him a glancing blow to the head.

The pastor said he followed him at a distance, Benbow appeared perturbed that he was not going to let him get away and made threats and threw a bottle at him. He ducked and it did not strike him.

"That is when he came at me and I put him to the ground.

"I am a minister. I don't go out to beat people up."

He said: "I used to do judo as a kid and I swiped him to the ground. I was hoping he would stay there until the police came."

Police on the phone had been telling him to keep a safe distance, not to go to close. "I was not in his face," he said.

After he took him to the ground Benbow backed off but asked if he wanted hepatitis.

"I followed him at a safe distance until the police met up with him and arrested him."

He added: "There is a saying that sin will take you further than you want to go, will keep you longer than you are willing to stay and cost you more than you are willing to pay. That is David Benbow's life and he ends up in jail for six months."

He said: "I didn't go looking for a fight. But you have to stand up - you cannot let something like that go by. I then just followed him, keeping an eye on him until the police arrested him."

Born in Washington, D.C. in the United States, David Campbell has been living in Wales since 2011 with his wife and daughter.