London bike thief who sold stolen bicycles online is jailed for two years

Fully deserved - the scum won't be pulling that stunt again.

QUOTE:
A 29-year-old London man has been jailed for two years for selling
stolen bicycles online, with an accomplice handed a 52-week jail
sentence suspended for two years, following an extensive investigation
by Metropolitan Police units funded by, and operated in partnership
with, Transport for London (TfL).

Stephen Amewode, who had admitted making £11,000 from the sale of 33
stolen bicycles, five of which he said he had stolen himself, pleaded
guilty at Blackfriars Crown Court to five counts of stealing a bicycle
and to selling them in contravention of the Proceeds of Crime Act
2002.

Besides the prison sentence he received, the Metropolitan Police said
that Amewobe would be the subject of confiscation proceedings in an
attempt to recoup the money he made from his crimes and to compensate
the victims.

Liam O’Meara, aged 30, who received the suspended sentence, was also
ordered to carry out 150 hours’ unpaid work and to compensate the
victims of the two bike thefts that he had admitted carrying out.

The Metropolitan Police revealed some details of the investigation,
which was carried out by the Safer Transport Command (STC) Payback
Unit and Cycle Task Force, which it operates jointly with TfL.

The investigation began when it transpired that the frame number of a
Brompton bicycle that had been bought by an unwitting purchaser from
Amewode after the latter had advertised it for sale online identified
the bike as having been reported stolen from Borough High Street in
January 2011.

The Brompton was restored to its lawful owner, leaving the innocent
purchaser out of pocket. He subsequently identified O’Meara as the
person who had sold the bike to him.

Amewode was arrested in March 2011 and police discovered a number of
pictures of bikes on his mobile phone [ed – thankfully not a criminal
offence in itself or we’d all be in trouble].

Bike parts were seized from his house as well as a laptop, with
forensic examination of the latter revealing that he had placed
approximately 100 adverts relating to the sale of bicycles online. In
the case of the 33 bicycles he admitted selling, adverts appeared
online within two days of their being reported stolen.

Police were also able to link Amewode’s mobile phone to that of
O’Meara, who was arrested in August 2011. The pair admitted having
carried out the bike thefts in the boroughs of Camden, Westminster and
Southwark.

Acting Chief Superintendent Paul Stalker of the Safer Transport
Command commented: "This sentence and impending confiscation hearing
demonstrates the Safer Transport Command's commitment to tackling
cycle theft in the capital and how we are using the full range of
tactics to bring offenders to justice and make them pay."

Siwan Hayward, Deputy Director of Community Safety, Enforcement and
Policing at TfL, added: “As the number of cyclists continue to grow in
the capital we will work with our policing partners to minimise bike
theft, ensuring that anyone who does commit cycle crimes is caught and
given the harshest penalty possible.”

While the custodial sentence imposed on Amewode sends out a clear
message that the police and courts are prepared to be tough on bike
theft, the fact is that vast majority of reported cases in the capital
go unsolved.

In 2010 alone, there were more than 21,000 bicycles reported stolen in
the Metropolitan Police area, and as the Guardian pointed out last
year, across the UK as a whole it appears that police are only
notified of one in five thefts to begin with.

Many cyclists will welcome the sentences handed down in this case, but
coming after a week in which two drivers found guilty of killing
cyclists through their careless driving each received a community
order rather than a prison sentence, it does underline the discrepancy
that some perceive in sentencing when it comes to crimes against
property and crimes against the person

http://road.cc/content/news/56196-lo...iled-two-years

--
Simon Mason

On Tue, 3 Apr 2012 09:40:46 -0700 (PDT), Simon Mason
wrote:

Fully deserved - the scum won't be pulling that stunt again.

A 0.16% clear up rate - that is really impressive and completely
justifies the time taken on it.

No comment on the vast numbers of cyclists who are so willing to buy
stolen bicycles and without whom the stealing of bicycles would be
pointless?

On 03/04/2012 17:40, Simon Mason wrote:
Fully deserved - the scum won't be pulling that stunt again.

Don't we know someone who bought a 'bargain' bike off EBAY & then
bragged about not caring if it was stolen or not?

I wonder who that was?

--
Dave - Cyclists VOR. "Many people barely recognise the bicycle as a
legitimate mode of transport; it is either a toy for children or a
vehicle fit only for the poor and/or strange," Dave Horton - Lancaster
University

On Apr 3, 10:37*pm, Peter Parry wrote:
On Tue, 3 Apr 2012 09:40:46 -0700 (PDT), Simon Mason

wrote:
Fully deserved - the scum won't be pulling that stunt again.

A 0.16% clear up rate - that is really impressive and completely
justifies the time taken on it.

No comment on the vast numbers of *cyclists who are so willing to buy
stolen bicycles and without whom the stealing of bicycles would be
pointless?

I believe there is a roaring trade in stolen cars, diesel, petrol,
wheels, satnavs, stereos etc etc.
That puts nicking bikes into small fry status.

--
Simon Mason

On Wed, 4 Apr 2012 01:22:10 -0700 (PDT), Simon Mason
wrote:

On Apr 3, 10:37*pm, Peter Parry wrote:

A 0.16% clear up rate - that is really impressive and completely
justifies the time taken on it.

No comment on the vast numbers of *cyclists who are so willing to buy
stolen bicycles and without whom the stealing of bicycles would be
pointless?

I believe there is a roaring trade in stolen cars, diesel, petrol,
wheels, satnavs, stereos etc etc.
That puts nicking bikes into small fry status.

Well Hull is the riskiest place in the UK for motor thefts, but
overall there are about 480,000 incidents of car theft per year (based
on 2010 British crime survey figures). If you include all thefts from
vehicles the figure goes to 1.2M.

For the same year and same measure cycle thefts were 533,000. Now
cycles account for a mere 2% of journeys nationwide but more are
stolen than are cars. You will however be pleased to know that
Humberside is only at no10 nationwide for bike thefts.