Well I am extremely disappointed with British Transport Police (BTP) specifically the officers involved with this case stationed at Kings Cross I believe.

(I posted some advice to the OP on an old forum thread about what to do as he had a similar situation which you can read here) http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/stolen-bike-now-on-ebay

This is kind of a continuation without hijacking the thread.

My girlfriend’s bike was stolen at Euston station under cctv in January 2006. The next day I spotted it on Ebay. The BTP allowed the sale top go through in order to be able to apprehend and charge the thief with selling stolen goods, a charge that carries a tougher sentence. During this early process my girlfriend went and made a detailed statement and said she would testify in court about ownership and the loss of the bike. We were kept informed of the ongoing case and that the accused was part of a ring nicking and selling bikes and that he had been seen in both London and Oxford on cctv.
So this case went on and on for 4 years until summer 2010 (by which time the insurance had payed out but also said we could have the bike back from the police which the wpc had said would be fine. So after all this time and god knows how much money the jury found the defendant not guilty. We believe that the charges were more serious and not just about bike theft and that this was a small part of the over all case which we could not be told about during the investigation. So, and this is the bit that makes my blood boil, The defendant is judged not guilty. So what do you think happens then?
Yep that’s right my girlfriend’s bike and other bikes were returned to the defendant! We were also told that he even made a complaint that some of the bikes were damaged. So what to do because this cannot be right. BTP had all the evidence that the bike was stolen, ownership documentation and a detailed witness statement. Not only has my girlfriend lost a bike she really liked that she was also assured would be returned she has also lost financially due to an insurance excess. As well as this the chap who bought the bicycle in good faith from Ebay for £400+ has also been done over. Are the British Transport Police guilty of gross incompetence? I’m not sure how to take action about this. I mean the bike is proven stolen and the owner is known wtf! Officially it is the insurance companies but they did agree the return. I think there must be a confused bobby who needs telling something stern.
I’ll be interested to hear what people have to say about this though.
J

who knows why the trial fell through give you only have half a picture
unfortunately for you the bikes are theirs you have been paid out let go of the anger and move on.
It does suck big time but what can you do about it.

can you go to the local rag?

BTP got the case brought to court taking 4 years, found not guilty why?

BTP did all they could by the sounds CPS even must had enough for it to go to court but something meant the defendant was found not guilty. So why do think it’s BTP fault. If the person was guilty despite the court findings then there’s a reason but is it really BTP fault?

Johnie730 – Have you raised your complaint with BTP and/or the PCC? Not much point grumbling on here without giving them the chance to explain.

Do you really think the “buyer” has lost out? I’d assume that it was paid for by Paypal and with a police investigation impounding the bike they’d have refunded him – assuming the transaction got that far in the first place. Had he paid for the bike I’d assume the police would have returned the bike to him (if the insurance company had no claim on it).

Is there a possibility that either this was not your G/F’s bike but one very similar to it (in which case there is probably a forum thread somewhere from a guy who’s just had a nightmare 4yrs) or that there was at least insufficient evidence to prove that beyond reasonable doubt?

As you say the owner of the stolen bike is the insurance company so its not really your / your GF’s complaint.

You realise it wasn’t BTP who found him not guilty?

Without knowing the full details, who knows what happened or why? Suggest you have a good long chat with someone before accusing someone of gross incompetence.

The biggest mistake that was definetly made was the assumption that someone was guilty before the trial.

Regardless of the outcome of the case you should have had the bike returned. The ownership does not transfer to the other person because they were found not guilty.

I would take this up with the police complaints people or citizens advice.

Someone attempted to nick my bike from a train station last summer. I contacted BTP who were great and identified the perp from CCTV footage. Within the first couple of weeks they gave me regular updates saying that the guy was now “inside” following other offences and that they would interview him in prison about my case (got told this several times over a three week period). Fast forward to this week and get a voicemail from BTP about my “stolen bike” (it wasn’t stolen, the theft attempt was unsuccessful) and that they had identified the culprit (yes, they knew that last summer) and were trying to locate him but he’d been booted out of his accommodation and was currently whereabouts unknown (well last summer they knew exactly where he was i.e. inside).

So with my experience about I’m not surprised to head of the OP’s case, especially the

So this case went on and on for 4 years

bit 🙄

My Mate’s bike got put on ebay 1 week after it was nicked.

Police told him “You have to bid and win, and we will go in your place”

He did this and the smackhead delivery girl got arrested. Case was dropped later on . Bike got nicked again 2 months later. . (Have you bought a Caad 8 with a dented top tube recently? )

So thats an orbit, a Caad 8, a scott spark and a Specialized Epic that has gone. probably to the same criminals who cant be done for it.

I am assuming here that the police were not subject to a court order that required them to hand this back!!!!! If they were disregard the comments below.

MAKE AN OFFICIAL COMPLAINT

Might not go anywhere because the Insurance Company might be the owner and they may have given permission for the bike’s return to the suspect

BUT

Equally the police know from your statements that it is a stolen bike so they are now morally guilty of assisting a suspect in retaining stolen goods (thus they are guilty of handling stolen goods themselves)

COMPLAIN….they’ve made it shit for you, the victim, and easy for a thief (convicted/unconvicted…. it was a theft wasn’t it?) SO make it awkward for them.

You might not get anywhere but it might help the police dickhead who made that wrong decision think twice before he engages in such stupidity again

Ebay is a policing nightmare. I had a job with stolen unique identifiable teddy bears (seriously). The listing was for 5 days. Ebay told me to submit relevant documents, signed by superior ranking officers due to the crippling Data Protection Laws, and they would get an answer back to me within 28 business days. So I told the rightful owner to bid on them, screw the seller about in order to reveal his address (offered a cheque for purchase instead of anon Paypal) and he found where he lived. I told the guy to never tell anyone else that I suggested this, he understood and thankfully kept quiet when quizzed by my sergeant about it all. This sergeant turned to me the following day and reminded me that if I *had* advised him as such any subsequent court case could be compromised as the defence would run away with entrapment and have a field day.

Junkyard.
True, no idea why the trial jury found the defendant not guilty. I do know the police were shocked by the decision. We weren’t told the actual charge either. However the bike was sold by the defendants ebay profile. I would hope that it was provable that the profile led to him however ebay are not the easiest company to deal with regarding information and I really hope the police had better evidence to rely on than just this. Also as soulwood says “Ebay is a policing nightmare” it’s not that difficult I suspect to cover your tracks if you have the inclination too. By the way we have moved on now, god knows it’s been long enough. It’s just the principle of the defendant getting all of the bikes he has handled back.
Kimbers.
I thought I might do an article and send it to LCC (london Cycling Campaign) or a local rag. I’ll be going on a fact finding mission.
Drac.
I shouldn’t have assumed it was BTP all the way but some police force/officer has made a mistake in returning a proven stolen cycle to the defendant.
Poly.
I was hoping for some advice really before going into a complains procedure. The chap who bought the bike from Ebay was allegedly riding it for a year before it was seized so I wonder if he did have recourse. lets hope he was able to recover his money with no penalty excess charges and by the way the bike ownership was verified using the frame number and original documentation and purchase receipt as well as the unique markings (scratches etc) and upgrades. The complaint isn’t really about getting the bike back it is that the fence had it returned to him.
Andituk.
Yeah I do realize it wasn’t BTP or any other police force that found him not guilty, it was the jury as I mentioned previously and your right I need to make some FOI requests and have a talk to some of the involved. Yes innocent until proven guilty I agree. We did report the bike stolen immediately. I did the work of scanning Ebay taking screen shots of all details and pictures which were then sent to BTP. We made statements and later were able to confirm the bike was the one that we reported stolen by showing receipts and documentation that matched the 3 frame numbers on the bike. I wonder how they figured that the guy fencing the bike was the owner over our evidence.
Billyboy.
I’m pretty sure the insurance company didn’t give permission to return it to the fence as they had said to my GF that she could have it back which was also ok’ed by the officer in charge but I guess that could have changed. You are right this is about the moral of the story and I would hope that someone would be required to have a think about their actions the next time this sort of situation crops up after all if you have had a bike nicked you would like to think that in the rare occasion that you actually spot it and have the chance to retrieve it that this would be possible especially by the professional police force. I know that there is a bigger picture regarding further charges to this fence character but this whole deal inspires no confidence in the police procedures. Surely a vigilante approach is not the better option here?
Allthepies and dancake.
I feel your frustration, I wonder how many more of us there are out there?
Soulwood.
It seems ebay are not the easiest people to trade information with on any level, if its not expedient they just won’t do it. That’s probably something like the motto they use. I thought of bidding to win and then doing a cash on collection but we decided to report the ebay ad instead. Entrapment would be an issue so your advice is appreciated. Hopefully there won’t be a next time for us but it is worth taking heed.