A bike thief continued stealing an ebike worth £3,500 even as witnesses called 999 and took pictures of him.
The owner of the bike returned to the racks outside Yellowave to find his bike gone on Saturday afternoon.
But he also found the woman who took these pictures, who told him she had seen the bike’s lock being sawn off with an angle grinder.
She told him she had called 999 and gave him the pictures, and so when he reported it, he felt certain that Sussex Police would have enough evidence to investigate.
So he was surprised to receive a letter on Monday telling him the case was being closed.
After Brighton and Hove News contacted Sussex Police, the force said they had not received the photos, and an investigation is now underway.
The bike’s owner said: “The lock was cut with a portable angle grinder in front of about 20 witnesses.
“The bike was insured so we should get it replaced, but we are down £625 excess.
“The police have reopened the case. It appears they didn’t have the photos – they now do.”
A police spokesman said: “We can confirm we received a third-party report of an electric bike having been stolen from Madeira Drive, Brighton, at 3.55pm on 16 September.
“According to the informant, the suspects were no longer at the scene and no visual evidence was provided.
“Police received a further report from the victim, confirming details of the bike, at 6.24pm the same day. He was advised to send through any visual evidence to allow officers to identify the suspects, but none has been received from him to date.
“Therefore the case was filed pending any further lines of enquiry.
“In light of this new information, the incident has now been allocated to the Resolution Centre for investigation and to make contact with the victim.
“Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to report it online or call 101, quoting reference 47230181769.”
Good pictures. Street justice coming to him soon.
20 witnesses and they just let him get on with it?
“My name is Terry Ball and I would have a scuffle with a thief armed with an angle grinder”.
Yeah, sure you would.
He would have to be fairly dull to attack someone in front of 20 people.
So yes, many people would have stopped him. Much braver things have been done.
What a ridiculous comment, didn’t say anything about getting involved physically. Asking him what the hell he was up to would be a good starting point. Most people committing crimes of opportunity will scarper when challenged.
I’d happily bet on myself armed with pebbles against that dweeb with any sized angle grinder. Just got to find them pebbles from somewhere…
Wow, usual utter incompetence from the police, someone needs sacked, we deserve better than this nonsense from an expensive police force.
One person alone may not be advisable to tackle a thief but if there were twenty people present they could have stopped this scum, he was outnumbered. The fact they do this so brazenly they know no one is going to stop them and they also know they are very unlikely to be caught and charged
Try checking around the hotels
Ha lol people like watching sometimes that’s way there don’t do anything but on here they are like I would do this I would do that if u are going to do it and stop him just do it
At long last some clear pictures instead of usual blurry images that are totally unrecognisable. Let us hope the criminal gets recognised and properly punished, and not given a ticking off by a pathetically spineless judge. And hopefully that is after the idiot in the photo has fallen off it.
@terry ball Angle grinders also work on bodies, do you want to end up in a&e for the sake of something that’s ultimately insured? report to 999 should have mentioned a “deadly weapon in a public place = armed response and poss a much heavier sentence than for bike theft?
I’m with Terry, this was poor. If someone had challenged him he would almost certainly have run. There is a big difference between an thief and a lunatic – and you’d have to be to attack someone in front of 20 people.
You have to read the situation and it’s personal preference to do something or not but if there really was 20 people against one guy they could definitely collectively spook him without getting to near to the angle grinder.
If that guy saw that maybe people watching him and nobody did anything he’ll feel empowered to do it again and again.
This is because benefits aren’t enough people need to nick stuff
No, it’s because we have a shed load of Albanians here running bike theft gangs. Wise up
Absolutely right noone gets involved nowadays shame really.. police and courts and government left to do what they normally do naff all… go over 30mph then that’s a different matter…
Clearly you and Steve spend to much time watching right-wing TV. You are so fully of racist bollocks.
Dont worry there are more than a sufficient number of home grown petty thieves without involving foreign varients.
Racist comment, why pick on one country, do you have proof of this guy’s nationality? I doubt it.
What!
With the amount of available jobs, who needs to be on benefits.
Such a shame that people even think this way.
Could have bought a secondhand car with the same money. Far better value.
Second hand car needs more space, is cumbersome and also needs petrol (electric cars are much more costly). This is much better for shorter trips. So possibly the person has purchased as per needs. Plus, many also have a car.
Cumbersome?
Yep.
Correct, well said.
Yeah Barry. I mean I could spend even less on an old diesel, they are really cheap now. Perfect for dropping the toddler off to nursery
20 people stand around with phones in hand. Not 1 had the bottle to jump him and put him on his arse. Standard Brightonians. As for the police, they couldn’t give a monkeys. The fact that the paper has got involved means some1 will actually have to do some police work.
Next time anyone sees a bike being stolen, call the old bill and say he was waving a gun, maybe they might respond then…
Large percentage of the police are good but there’s a few that just want to draw wages and wait to draw a good pension
Don’t be silly, they might get hurt.
Now if it was a perceived hate crime the old bill would have sent an ARV and 2 meat wagons
And if you’re lucky the Police might act ‘mistakenly’
Hesdeadnow….
I don’t think anyone should have tried to tackle the bike thief as not only he had an angle grinder he could have been carrying a concealed weapon. If he can do this when 20 or more people are watching him who know what else he is capable of doing, after all he wasn’t bothered about doing it in front of all these witnesses. I hope he gets what he deserves.
High on drugs, robbing to afford his fix, if someone had stopped him by smacking him in the jaw, the police would be round your house nicking you quicker than a druggie running with a £10 note to his dealer’s yard
My God! This is amazing!
There’s actually someone using the Madeira Drive cycle lane
Twenty people v one scumbag. The scumbag would have scarpered if challenged.
Albanian. He’ll never be identified.
I suppose there’s no real men left in Brighton to challenge a thief. A battery operated angle grinder a weapon that gives you more chance of hurting him more.
If someone did something to stop the thief they would be questioned by police, arrested for asasult and jailed. Thats system these days.
Poor man is a desperate refugee. Hopefully Labour will increase immigration and provide enough financial support so that people do not need to steal. More support and more benefits means less crime
what rubbish
You talk unmitigated nonsense. There are an absolute plethora of home grown petty thieves. The majority are British, born and bred.
Don’t bank on the police to do anything. I provide them with the name and photo of the thief who stole my doorbell. Until today nothing happened. They rather used their police car to go to the shops to buy food for themselves.
More benefits for refugees. Open the boarders. Let’s help others. We can all spare a bit. Time to support others and be mindful of mindfulness
And give spelling lessons to the people that encouraged them to come here, live in our luxury hotels and get free cash. Wel dun Catherine
Think Catherines been on the proseco
Goodie two shoes
Wise up root of nearly all problems in this country is due to opening up the boarders
Good old Mr Blair..worst criminal out there running free and earning millpond everyone turns a blind eye
Fabregas in his Arsenal days ain’t it, lol
20 years ago I stopped an armed robber running from a London rd bank, held him on ground and persuaded him not to struggle. Police arrived and we’re more interested in how I stopped him and any injuries he had. I decided to run off before they got my full details. Later found out he had a fake gun but a real knife. Lesson learned . Think before you act !
But then you left your full name on this thread? They’ll be round for ya now! 🫣
It’s not the public sho shold stop those scumbags. I’ve had two ebikes stolen in 1 year I even had gps tracker on 2th one l. The way police acts in UK encourages those scumbags I personally belive allowing them to get away whit bike theft prevents those scumbags commiting more serious crimes like robbery. Which most of them pricks. But police department are %100 guilty in my opinion they don’t care about those crimes they don’t show up to crime scene at all. Also they have the data where those crimes occure I have never seen police force doing any kind of operation to bait them whit less secure easy target bikes at known locations. I have 4x gps tracker hidden on my own bike now I belive shortly I will catch one my self and I’m not calling police insteed I will attack them and call ambulance let’s see how they response .
Over the last couple of years hundreds, if not thousands, of bikes have been stolen across Brighton and Hove. My electric bike was stolen from outside the King Alfred even tough it was chained to their railings and had a security cable fitted. A friend has had two e-bikes stollen. With the invention of battery powered, handheld, angle grinders thieves can steal virtually any bike they want 😰
Feel Sorry for the lady who got her bike nicked .if the guy who took it gets Caught he won’t go to prison like some people are Advocating for. He will just get a fine or Community serviceat at worst. There was no Violence thank god from anyone watching because they would of been the ones going to jail I’m sad to say .the people watching did not say they saw the guy with a knife but there’s a good chance of him having one as most will do anything to get away but this guy new that bikes owner was Probably a woman, seeing the bike had a child seat which makes it even more Cowardly .I think the best option would of been to try block his get away making as much noise as possible to Distract and confuse him he wants a quick get away the longer he’s kept there the more chance of him dropping the bike and running
Well I hope she gets her bike back and he stops this too people. The sad thing is some of the people that saw this happing may have brought off a bike or the like off the local Thiefdown the pub
REMEMBER IF YOU DON’T BUY IT
THEY WON’T NICK IT.
Ha! How lazy and incompetent a police force can there be. No wonder this place is like the Wild West, with no law and order. An absolute disgrace.