For bike thieves it seems crime does pay.

Convicted bike thief, Gary Smith of London, who received stolen motorcycles and then passed them on to unsuspecting members of the public for a profit has received for his crimes 39 weeks imprisonment, suspended for two years, and ordered to carry out unpaid work for 250 hours. In other words he is still walking the streets able to carry out more crime.

He has been given six months to repay the victims £42400 otherwise he will go to prison for eighteen months. He has also been ordered to pay £7500 to the people who bought the bikes.

First off I am not so sympathetic with the buyers as the court seems to be. Why did they buy these bikes – because they were so cheap? These days that should raise a few questions surely?
It’s a fact that if there was no market for stolen motorcycles (or stolen motorcycle parts) there would be no stolen motorcycles. Is that pie in the sky? Maybe.

The real victims in this case are the people who will have had to deal with the anguish that someone stole their property, if that was their only form of transport then sort out an alternative, deal with the police, negotiate with their insurance company and finally suffer increased insurance premiums on renewal. If you say it quick it doesn’t sound as bad as it really is.

I wonder whether they will get their compensation from Mr Smith. I would be suspicious as to how he can come up with £42K in six months – the profits from more stolen bikes perhaps?

How does this make you feel as a motorcyclist?

It makes me feel mad I can tell you.

What makes me madder than that is the puny sentence handed out to the perpetrator.

Motorcycle theft is not taken seriously in this country at all. When we had our sidecar outfit stolen, a neighbour to the waste ground where it had been taken reported it to the police before it was subsequently torched. You would think that given that we had reported the theft someone could connect the dots. But, no, different shifts you see!

Perhaps Mr Smith should do his unpaid work repairing the potholes in the roads – now then don’t get me started!

You can read the full report here

Let me know your thoughts below…