Darlington man reunited with bike stolen 12 years ago

A man in Darlington has been reunited with a bike that was stolen 12 years ago — so long ago he'd completely forgotten about it.

The Northern Echo's Tony Kearney reports that police in Consett, Co Durham found the mountain bike in a load of stolen property recovered in a raid last week.

They tracked down the rightful owner, Paul Wallis, and yesterday returned the bike stolen in 2002.

Inspector Keith Wardle, of Consett Police, said: “We have never returned something which has been stolen quite so long ago, but there is always the possibility that we can trace the owner.

“It was so long ago he had forgotten all about it, but he was over the moon to get it back.”

Other goods recovered in the March 7 raid included a set of rare handmade carving knives, which were also returned to their owner.

Police arrested a 43-year-old on suspicion of possession of stolen goods and firearms offences. He was questioned and released on police bail.

PCSO Mark Rodgers had the challenging task of tracking down the bike’s original owner, by comparing its make, model and colour with police computer records of reported thefts.

PCSO Rodgers said: “As you can imagine it wasn’t a straightforward matter contacting a victim of a crime which happened 12 years ago.

“Despite this, we eventually managed to locate Mr Wallis, who confirmed the bike was the one that was stolen all those years ago. He was delighted to get his bike back”.