A bike thief who tried to sell a stolen cycle on Gumtree has landed a 12 week prison sentence.
On Thursday 31st October Richmond police were alerted by the victim of a burglary that her bike was being sold on Gumtree. The bike, a £500 Specialized Ariel cycle was being advertised for £200 under the guise that the seller stated he was moving to Australia. Officers from the Richmond Burglary Team arranged to meet the seller purporting to be an interested party that same day at Asda in Roehampton.
Plain clothes officers attended the store and waited for the seller to turn up and after a brief struggle at the front of the store police arrested two suspects and recovered two stolen cycles. The Specialized cycle was returned to the rightful owner the same day much to her relief.
Nathan Crane of Battersea pleaded guilty at Wimbledon Magistrates Court the next day for Handling Stolen Goods and was sentenced to three months in prison.
Detective Sergeant Chris Brown from Richmond CID said:
We will pursue burglars and bike thieves wherever we can however, please help yourself not to become a victim of crime and always secure your cycle with a strong lock and where possible keep it hidden away out of sight.
But is that all
I managed to track down the advert this press release was referring to and a simple Google search of the phone number (07770226513) shows adverts for at least 4 other bikes in the past couple of months (other than the two he was found in possession of). It concerns me that these bikes weren’t mentioned by the police.