A Londoner managed to do the (nearly) impossible and retrieve his stolen bike – but the suspect’s mum didn’t seem surprised when police turned up at her door.
When Alasdair Bayman’s bike was stolen from the communal hallway of his block of flats in Dalston, east London, he was shocked to find it up for sale on online marketplace Gumtree the very next day.
Alasdair, 28, had resigned himself to buying his own bike back from the thief – but less than 48 hours later with the help of local police he managed to get it back without spending any money.
He had been getting his Cannondale Topstone bike ready for the winter season and had ‘put a lot of time, money and energy’ into it.
He was planning on taking advantage of a sunny morning to cycle to Kent when he realised it had been taken.
‘I cycled to France over the summer to meet my girlfriend and I have recently been getting it ready for the winter season, to get it into good shape,’ Alasdair told the BBC.
After finding his bike for sale he messaged the suspect and negotiated a price of £750 – less than half of what it was worth.
When the pick up time and date was decided, Alasdair told the Metropolitan Police officer assigned to his case about his plans.
He was advised not to go alone, so he took his girlfriend Eloïse Wright along, meeting police officers there.
The couple arrived at the meeting place in Walthamstow, police in tow, but soon realised they had been tricked as the thief was watching them from a different block of flats.
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He changed his username on Gumtree and stopped responding to messages once Alasdair said he had arrived.
Thankfully, police got access to one of the blocks and figured out where the pictures on the Gumtree listing had been taken, based on Alasdair and friend Harry Gray’s analysis of the photos combined with Google Maps street view.
Officers knocked on a door and when the suspect’s mother answered, she asked: ‘What’s he done now?’
Alasdair’s bike along with three others were found inside the flat.
A 21-year-old man was arrested and has since been charged in connection with handling stolen goods. He’s set to appear at Thames Magistrates’ Court next month.
Sharing his relief at getting the bike back and police taking the theft seriously, Alasdair said: ‘I hope this shows thieves “you can’t get away with this”.’
Alasdair’s story was immortalised on an X thread by friend Harry, who explained how they pretended to be coming from Manchester to buy the bike so the suspect would ‘lower his guard’.
There are about 77,000 bike thefts reported in the UK every year – with Hackney seeing the most thefts out of London’s boroughs – and only about 2% of cases result in a charge.
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