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Serial train station bike thief receives conditional discharge – but has been ordered to pay compensation to victims

Derrik Roye targeted bikes left at Haywards Heath station in West Sussex

A serial bike thief who targeted bicycles left at a train station in West Sussex has given a conditional discharge but ordered to pay compensation totalling nearly £2,700 to his victims.

Derrik Roye, aged 50 and from Croydon, targeted bikes left at Haywards Heath train station in West Sussex, reports The Argus.

The station, operated by Southern Rail, is one of the busiest for commuters in the south east, and has a dedicated Cycle Hub with parking spaces for 300 bicycles.

Between October and November 2019, he stole four bicycles there as well as the wheels from another bike, Brighton Magistrates’ Court heard.

The first bike he stole, on 21 October and left at the station by the woman who owned it, was worth £799.

He stole another bike, worth £800, on 12 November and three days later stole another won there, valued at £250. The same day he also stole a pair of wheels worth £500 from a bike at Horley train station.

The final theft was on 18 November, when he returned to Haywards Heath station, this one worth £330.

Initially, Roye entered a not guilty plea, but he admitted the charges in court.

He was given a conditional discharge – an order under which an offender will not be sentenced for an offence unless a further offence is committed within a stated period and ordered to pay compensation totalling £2,679 to his victims.

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.

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8 comments

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Velo-drone | 2 years ago
3 likes

Wondering what other circumstances I could steal £3k of goods from five people and receive only a conditional discharge ....

Imagine if he'd nicked a £3k car ... somehow doubt it would a free pass for that...

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chrisonabike | 2 years ago
0 likes

Pedantry.

Quote:

He stole another bike, worth £800, on 12 November and three days later stole another won there

Somewon one - but I'm left onedering who one.

Avatar
open_roads | 2 years ago
8 likes

"Here you are you despicable repeat offender - I'm going to give you absolutely no punishment whatsoever. Now let that be a lesson to you."

Yet another gullible Magistrate letting down the public and the police. It must be hard for the latter to get motivated to actually detect this kind of offence when the judiciary completely fail give meaningful / deterrent sentences even to prolific repeat offenders.

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check12 | 2 years ago
3 likes

banning order from that train station anyone? Seems a no brainer

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Steve Garratt | 2 years ago
3 likes

What a ridiculously lenient sentence! Not much of a deterrent for other bike thieving scrotes! Had a £1000 bike taken from outside W.H.Smith's in Croydon on Boxing Day 2012... Zero interest from the so called Whitgift security staff and the police just issued me with a crime number. Bike thefts are on the bottom rung of crime status..

 

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Sriracha | 2 years ago
8 likes

So basically, he's been told to go raise some cash for his previous victims, but not to get caught at it for a specified duration.

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Secret_squirrel | 2 years ago
9 likes

One suspects if you are stupid/desperate enough to go round nicking bikes the chances of you having a spare £3k knocking around are slim to none.

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IanMK replied to Secret_squirrel | 2 years ago
9 likes

I expect he's got a cunning plan to find the money 

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