The story of Jenni Morton-Humphreys and how she mounted her own sting operation to recover a stolen bike when police refused to help is a parable about cycling in Britain in 2017.
With hundreds of thousands of bicycles pinched across Britain every year, the theft itself was unexceptional – as was the bike’s appearance a few days later on Facebook’s ‘for sale’ pages. Social media platforms have become the latest marketplace for thieves looking to sell stolen bicycles and motorbikes with no questions asked. In fact, when Jenni told Bristol police that she had located her stolen bicycle on Facebook and that she was posing as a buyer in order to recover it, officers refused to accompany her. When police have no evidence to go on, their reticence to investigate bicycle theft is understandable, but a case like Jenni’s seems to suggest a lack of will.
Accompanied by a good Samaritan who followed the story as it unfolded online, Jenni went to meet the thief and asked for test ride. Needless to say, once she got on the bike, she didn’t stop pedalling until she reached home. When the police finally caught up with the thief, he told them he had bought the bike from a man in a pub the night before – an excuse they were happy to accept.
You can read the story in full here.
The moral of the story is you can’t rely on the police to do anything to help recover a stolen bicycle, but equally it’s wrong to give up all hope of finding your bike – if you’re prepared to do some legwork yourself. Oh, and make certain you have a good cycle insurance policy.
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