£9,000 bike stolen from Hertfordshire recovered from Poland

A £9,000 Cervelo P5 stolen from a house in Hertfordshire last August has been returned to its owner after being spotted for sale in a shop in Poland.

The BBC reports that triathlete Marc London had two bikes taken from a locked shed at his home in Baldock while he and his wife, Emily, were on holiday in Dubai.

Emily London said: “It was just horrendous. The bike is Marc’s absolute pride and joy. It had just disappeared. We thought it felt like a planned robbery – it was so well executed.

“We called the police immediately and knocked on everyone’s door but no one had seen anything. We thought the police would be around really quickly but they just gave us a crime number.”

She continued: “Marc is a super keen triathlete – he’s done loads for charity – so he put pictures of the bike on all his triathlon Facebook groups and asked them to look out for it. They’re really kind and look out for each other.

“It took about a month before someone got back to us. We couldn’t believe it but a Polish triathlete messaged us, saying that he saw Marc’s bike for sale on a Polish website.

“He told us that the shop in Poznan was involved in another high profile bike theft just weeks before.”

The shop was subsequently raided by Polish Police who believed that stolen goods were being sold.

Sergeant Al Clarke from Hertfordshire Constabulary said: “The language barrier was an issue and things moved slowly until the International Crime Coordination Centre became involved. They got in contact with prosecutors in Poland and finally the bike was identified as Marc’s and released for collection.”

The Londons travelled to Poland at the end of April and Emily described how they used Bluetooth to trigger the Tile tracking device hidden inside the frame.

“The second we heard that alarm we just burst into tears. The whole Polish police office were so happy.

“They started clapping and cheering and taking our pictures. It was a small fortune to get to this point. But it was all worth it. That night we celebrated in Poznan together and got very drunk.

She added: “Marc has an Iron Man in September so he's happy he got his bike back, but mind you I won't see him now as he'll be cycling every night.”