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Police on track of gang of junior professional bike thieves

Baby-faced felons believed responsible for up to 40 stolen bikes

Lancashire police believe they are on the trail of a gang of bike thieves responsible for up to 40 stolen bikes across the Preston area — but they can't name any suspects as they are just 15 and 16 years old.

The schoolboy crime wave is believed to be the work of just three or four youngsters who have stolen bikes worth thousands from victims in Broadgate, the University area, and Middleforth, according to the Lancashire Evening Post.

The gang is suspected of running a professional 'chop shop' operation,  stealing multiple bikes and respraying them to make them harder to identify. In one raid, the pint-sized perpetrators made off with six bikes.

Police say they have had calls from worried residents who have spotted a group trying to break into sheds at night, trying property doors and going into gardens.

However, the bicycle Bugsy Malones seem to be avoiding houses on main roads.

PC Carl Ingram, Broadgate’s community policeman, said since the start of the year, 13 separate bike thefts had been reported in the three areas.

He added : “They are thought to be due to the same people, and on some occasions more than one bike has been stolen. One family had four bikes.

“Some bikes are worth hundreds of pounds - it makes sense to get a £20 bike lock to deter thieves.

“An investigation is ongoing and we are confident we will catch the culprits. We want to reassure residents action is being taken.

“One suspects has already been convicted of a bike theft but can’t be named for legal reasons.

“We would warn anyone who spots something suspicious to contact us on 101.”

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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12 comments

Avatar
MikeOnABike | 9 years ago
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Bullet in the head and sterilise the parents.

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duc888 replied to MikeOnABike | 9 years ago
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You would have to go further up the chain, because the parents would only be 30 at best, which means the grandparents are 44 and can still breed, the great grand parents would still only be 58 and the GG grand parents 72, although unlikely to make it to that age due to obesity, smoking, beer and general scummy lifestyle..  4

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wycombewheeler | 9 years ago
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send them to a remote far away island somewhere?

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leaway2 | 9 years ago
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A £20 lock is going to do nothing but deter the opportunist.

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Bigfoz | 9 years ago
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I see PC Ingram is well in tune with modern cycling trends. "Some bikes are worth hundreds of pounds" Really? Most bikes are worth hundreds of pounds, very few are worth less, many are worth thousands. Try buying a replacement new bike under "hundreds" of pounds.

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Stumps | 9 years ago
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There is nothing child like in a 15 or 16 year old nowadays unless they have been locked up in a convent for the last 10 years.

This group is no different in their attitudes towards crime as people in their 20's and 30's so please treat them as such.

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ciderman_100 | 9 years ago
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catch 'em chop their balls off that way they will never reproduce scum to replace them.

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Airzound replied to ciderman_100 | 9 years ago
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ciderman_100 wrote:

catch 'em chop their balls off that way they will never reproduce scum to replace them.

They probably already have spawn Kyle style.

Name and shame these little fuckers.

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jasecd replied to ciderman_100 | 9 years ago
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ciderman_100 wrote:

catch 'em chop their balls off that way they will never reproduce scum to replace them.

Or catch them, punish them and then subsequently offer them some form of rehabilitation to become contributing members of society.

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pullmyfinger replied to jasecd | 9 years ago
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jasecd wrote:
ciderman_100 wrote:

catch 'em chop their balls off that way they will never reproduce scum to replace them.

Or catch them, punish them and then subsequently offer them some form of rehabilitation to become contributing members of society.

No. Chopping their balls off is better.

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horizontal dropout | 9 years ago
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I don't normally criticise road.cc writing but this article has an "aw cute" feel to it:

Quote:

three or four youngsters
pint-sized perpetrators
bicycle Bugsy Malones

It's almost like because they are young it's ok. :- (((

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crikey | 9 years ago
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Even the smallest hint of where the bloody hell Broadgate is in Lancashire would be a welcome addition to this report...

I now know it's in Preston, but there is no clue at all in the report; pull your socks up, 'ave a word, etc.

...and how the **** can your 'Northern' correspondent live in Cambridge?

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