A police officer who refuses to eat or drink until he has made an arrest has bagged his 100th prisoner in a year.

PC Redouane Haddouch – known as Red – is Wandsworth’s equivalent of Hawaii’s Dog the Bounty Hunter, made famous by the TV show about him, although Red is a policeman and does not get paid a bounty for the people he brings in.

If you are an offender, fail to attend court or are wanted for questioning, you can run but you cannot hide from Red.

He and his colleagues in the borough's newly formed Wanted Offenders Unit really are the long arm of the law, going all over the country to track down and bring back wanted men and women.

A few weeks ago they travelled to Coventry to arrest a man who had evaded being recalled to prison by living under an assumed identity.

They also managed to locate and arrest Wands-worth’s oldest outstanding wanted person who had been on the run for eight years after failing to appear at court to answer a GBH charge.

Insted of bounty money, Red has an unusual, but extremely successful, way of motivating himself to get his man or woman.

Once he has gone out after someone, he refuses to come back in for something to eat or drink until he has a prisoner with him.

Given his role in catching people on the run when they least expect it, PC Haddouch, who has been a police officer for 16 years, is understandably reticent about appearing in front of the camera.

Detective Inspector Darren Hassard said: “The Wanted Offenders Unit has been a success story for us at Wandsworth. We have been able to professionalise the hunt for wanted offenders within a dedicated unit and in doing so, are better able to manage the risk and harm posed by our more prolific offenders.

“PC Haddouch should be rightly proud of clocking up his 100th; as we are.

“His work ethic and professionalism are second to none.”

The unit works with a detective to track down its quarry and has arrested more than 300 people since it was set up in April last year.

The unit of a detective inspector, two sergeants and eight PCs has dramatically reduced the number of wanted people in the borough over the past year.

The plain-clothed unit uses a variety of information to locate its targets, including information about benefit payments, court appearances and school visits.

It once caught someone by informing them they had won the lottery and then arrested them when they called into a newsagent to collect their winnings.