The national TV news story of a partygoer in a Batman costume chasing down a handbag snatcher in Norwich will feel like a strange echo of the past for long-time Telegraph & Argus readers, who may well remember Bradford’s own ‘Batman’.
In 2013, a takeaway delivery man dressed as the Caped Crusader made headlines around the world when he turned up at Trafalgar House police station, on Nelson Street, in a 1960s-style Batman outfit and handed in a wanted friend.
The latest Batman story, reported across national television news on September 25, 2026, centres on Sonni Mason, 25, a cafe worker from London who had travelled to Norwich for a friend’s fancy-dress birthday party on September 19.
Dressed in a homemade Batman costume, complete with cape and cowl, he found himself pursuing a thief who had snatched a woman’s handbag outside a bar.
Along with other guests in superhero costumes – including Mr Fantastic, Poison Ivy and Cyclops – he chased the suspect through the city, flagged down police, and eventually recovered the bag from atop a wall near Norwich Cathedral after scaling it with a friend’s help.
“I hope I can inspire people to be a little bit more like Batman,” Sonni told reporters.
Sonni Mason, 25, dressed as batman who retrieved a stolen handbag in Norwich (Image: Joe Frankham / SWNS)
“Not so much the running around in the dark in a costume but helping others out.”
For Telegraph & Argus readers, the image of a real-life Batman intervening in street crime will instantly remind them of the 2013 tale of Stan Worby, 39, of Wyke and later Delph Hill, who became an unlikely local legend when CCTV footage showed him walking into Bradford’s main police station dressed as Batman and telling officers: “I’ve caught this one for you.”
Bradford’s Batman: a practical joke with real consequences
In February 2013, Worby, a Chinese takeaway delivery man, had been out with his friend after watching Bradford City play at Wembley in the League Cup Final against Swansea City.
His friend was wanted by police in connection with several alleged offences, and in what Worby later described as “a practical joke, just between me and him”, he donned a Batman costume and accompanied his friend to Trafalgar House police station in the early hours of a Monday morning.
The sight of a superhero escorting a wanted man into custody left officers “stunned”, and the story quickly went viral, with Worby telling ITV Daybreak he was “gobsmacked” by the worldwide coverage.
At the time, West Yorkshire Police played along with the joke, issuing a statement to say: “The person who brought the wanted man into the station was dressed in a full Batman outfit. His identity remains unknown.”
The T&A launched a hunt for the man behind the costume - and a clue was soon to emerge.
In early March, it was reported that he bought his costume from The Joke Shop in Kirkgate Market, with a receipt showing it was purchased at 12.30pm on Wednesday, February 20.
Speaking to the T&A at the time, owner Michael Relton said his sister and co-owner Kathryn Sutcliffe had sold him the outfit and he was adamant he wanted the ‘grey one’.
He said: “We normally sell the black, newer ones, but he said he wanted the grey one. We haven’t sold one of those for ages. It’s great to see Bradford in the news again for something so positive.”
His cousin Andrew Worby, of Shipley, said the family only realised it was Stan when they saw the CCTV images on television, noting that Stan had “totally turned his life around” after getting into trouble as a young lad.
His friend was later charged with handling stolen goods and fraud-related offences and appeared at Bradford and Keighley Magistrates’ Court.
After two years free of crime, things would take a turn for the worse later that year when Worby found himself on the wrong side of the law when he was given a suspended sentence at Bradford Crown Court after a jury convicted him of burgling tools from a householder’s garage.