Bicycle stolen from Northampton charity reunited with rightful owner thanks to eagle-eyed officer

A bicycle that was stolen from a Northampton charity, which helps young people with disabilities has been returned to them after an eagle-eyed police officer spotted something familiar.

Last summer, PCSOs Mark Foster and Dan Freeman attended a community engagement event at the Fernie Fields Sports Centre in Northampton which was being hosted by Sports4fitnessCIC – a charity that provides sports provision for young people with disabilities.

As part of this engagement event, PCSOs Foster and Freeman used BikeRegister to security mark the charity’s bicycles, some of which had been adapted to allow people with disabilities to ride them.

A few weeks ago in in June 2023, the charity was a victim of burglary with some of the bikes stolen from their premises.

However, as part of the Neighbourhood Policing Team’s activities to try and find the bikes, eagle-eyed Sergeant Tor Lindsay spotted one of the BikeRegister stickers on the frame of a bike in a residential property in Semilong, Northampton.

Quick enquiries were then carried out by the two PCSOs and the bike was found to be one that they had security marked at the event last summer.

The bike was then returned to the charity to allow them to continue the important work that they do and they were very grateful to have it back.

PCSO Dan Freeman said: “This charity do some fantastic work and it was such a shame to see their work disrupted by thoughtless criminals who decided to steal some of their bikes.

“I am really pleased that we managed to get one of them back and the search continues for the others.

“This story highlights the importance of not only community engagement and bike marking but displays great teamwork and local knowledge from the neighbourhood policing team.”

One man has been arrested on suspicion of burglary in connection with the offence and remains in police custody, at this time.