Bike Thieves Jailed As BikeRegister Supplies ‘Crucial’ Police Statement
22 Oct 2014THREE men have been jailed for a total of five and-a-half years after they admitted involvement in the theft of hundreds of bikes from railway stations and other public places across London and Hertfordshire.
One of the thieves, aged 26, from Ealing was jailed for 36 months, reduced to 30 months for an early guilty plea. Another member of the group, aged 19, from Brent, was imprisoned for 24 months, reduced to 18 months for an early guilty plea; and the third member, aged 19, from Ealing, received a 24–month jail sentence, also reduced to 18 months.
Many of the stolen bikes were found for sale on popular auction websites and had a combined estimated value of £74,000. Officers were able to link more than 530 bike thefts to the three men by using a series of techniques including CCTV analysis and linking their email addresses to online adverts.
BikeRegister, the UK’s national cycle database, played a crucial role in the conviction of the thieves, as part of Operation Fiesta.
BikeRegister is used by every UK Police force to help them reunite some of the thousands of lost or stolen bikes they recover every year to their legal owners. The system is also designed to prevent bike theft in the first instance.
BikeRegister is used by every UK Police force to help them reunite some of the thousands of lost or stolen bikes they recover every year to their legal owners. The system is also designed to prevent bike theft in the first instance.
PC Marc Farmer from the Cycle Investigation Team, British Transport Police (BTP) in London, explained: “As part of the preliminary hearings for the trial of one of the Operation Fiesta defendants, he stated that he was a legitimate seller of bicycles and that he had conducted checks on BikeRegister in order to ascertain whether the bicycles he was selling were stolen or not. BikeRegister was,
therefore, going to form a pivotal part of the trial for the defence.”
IP addresses registered to the defendant were supplied by BTP to BikeRegister. By accessing our secure database, we were able to confirm that the checks had not been made by the defendant.
PC Farmer concluded: “The statement provided by BikeRegister closed another avenue for the defendant and was crucial in the defendant’s decision to plead guilty prior to a trial taking place.”
For further information and images contact: Jodie Fisher, Marketing Executive for Selectamark.
Phone: +44 (0)1689 487829
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @bikeregister
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