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news
Wheel from stolen bike © Simon MacMichael.JPGPhoto shopped – background of Gumtree pic helps police collar bike thief
A bike thief from Middlesbrough was collared by police after officers recognised the interior of his home from the background of photographs posted on the website Gumtree.
Craig Evans, aged 31, stole bikes worth thousands of pounds from towns in North Yorkshire during a three-week spree last summer, choosing the location due to its popularity with cyclists.
He targeted bicycles left unlocked outside cafes in Stokesley and Great Ayton and, in one instance, one propped up on a park bench that its owner was sitting on at the time.
According to the Darlington & Stockton Times, Evans, a carpet fitter, admitted handling one stolen bike and stealing three others after police discovered his DNA on a water bottle that was with one of the bikes.
On Tuesday, he was jailed for 18 weeks at Northallerton Magistrates’ Court.
PC Alastair Gill, of Stokesley Police, said: "This case shows that we will not tolerate travelling criminals coming into North Yorkshire intent on committing crime, and ruining local residents' quality of life.
“If they do, be in no doubt, they will be pursued, identified and arrested."
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- chrisonabike 7 min 4 sec ago
Wait - I've got it! It's actually an accessible design - for cyclists without arms. Hey presto, you can be in the drops using only your feet!
- chrisonabike 10 min 54 sec ago
Why leave yourself open to the problem in the first place? No windows, no draughty windows.
- chrisonabike 12 min 43 sec ago
Yup - although as a more "distributed" / low cost kind of "good" (which the public purse pays towards) cycling will likely always be susceptible to...
- quiff 1 hour 19 min ago
I'm sure they'd ask Lime to do that too. Come and collect your bikes and my neighbour - they're in pieces.
- brooksby 1 hour 25 min ago
Ireland seems to have a lot of problems with their cycle lanes… Almost as many as England
- quiff 1 hour 45 min ago
Fair point - I was restricting myself to pedal bikes. As I've never spent that kind of money on anything though (mortgage doesn't count), it's kind...
- brooksby 2 hours 47 min ago
And finally: I wonder how many of the "more than 3,000" signatures on that petition are actually locals, who live or work there (and are not just...
- Doug_D 4 hours 23 min ago
Another book suggestion - I can highly recommend "Lost Summers and Half-Forgotten Afternoons: A Mint Sauce collection" - a beautifully presented...
- mdavidford 6 hours 14 min ago
I think you're missing an opportunity to pack even more tech into it - add accelerometers that can detect whether they're pedalling or stepping....
Add new comment
6 comments
Fantastic. I'm sick of people committing crimes and then getting some light sentence. You can bet that he had stolen more than four bikes before that he wasn't caught for.
I hope they use his ass as a playground.
Stealing bikes isn't ok, but rape is! You just lowered yourself to lower than the criminal in my eyes.
If the guy showed the same amount of initiative and effort in working he wouldn't need to steal bikes.
Hope gets put in a cell with some CTC lags - the things they do with tea cakes will put the fear of God into him.
18 weeks seems low for a repeat offender though, as the original report makes clear. I thougt multiple offences got you some serious time.
And he must be a regular if the fuzz recognise his flock wallpaper.
If you're sufficiently 'known' to Police that they recognise your house in web pics of a robbed bike, it's probably time to find a new career.
Great to see a proactive approach by the already busy bobbies.