My brothers bike was pinched from Sheffield station the week. It turns out the police have identified the culprit and are going to arrest him. They have given my brother the opportunity to meet the criminal face to face. And he has duly agreed. Wether or not he will get the bike back is a different matter and is beside the point of this post. Do you have anything you wish to say to a bike thief? I can pass this forum on to my brother who can present it to the individual.

For your iinformtation I think my brother is going to cut off all his fingers with his bolt cutters, except his middle one, So for the rest of his life he is constantly swearing at everyone……

Sounds quite weird, does that happen a lot? The arranged meeting I mean, not the bolt cutter stuff…

Why? Thats the only question.

I have no allegiance to The Guardian but http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2012/oct/30/offenders-meet-victims-plan

Taser him

In the cock

for all those waving round corporal punishment whats it going to achieve?

Not trying to make excuses but the causes need fixing along with the problems.

Hang the thieving scum. Cause of problem solved, Too many people on this planet anyway!

welshfarmer – Member
Hang the thieving scum. Cause of problem solved,

Until the next one, and the one after that. How about transporting them somewhere inhospitable that was fashionable a while ago.

It’s easy to punish people, it’s harder to fix the problems

I disagree mike, when i caught a thief breaking into my house (actually escaping out the window at the time with a bag of stuff) i broke 7 of his fingers as i managed to catch them in the window, along with the many times he subsequently tripped up and fell on his face as he tried to runaway afterwards and i’m sure he thought twice about doing it again – i’d quite happily place a thief’s wrist on a block and whack them with a hammer, don’t steal others possessions or break into their house – simple!.

Surely fixing the cause by means of punishment which is a deterrent for other would be scum to be afraid of so that they might actually think about the consequences before committing the crime.

Will be an hour of his life your brother won’t get back.
Move on. Life’s too short.

Last year I had 3 bikes nicked. All built by me, including the wheels on 1. All the parts picked and bought carefully from here or new. They were my work bikes,so whoever took them was taking my means of paying rent and bills as well. My latest bike is getting quite nice now after I bought some good wheels for it. I’m nervous locking it but what can I do. If I’d have caught the person who took my ScandAl from my balcony and been in a position to throw him off I probably would have done.

Hang the thieving scum.

i’d quite happily place a thief’s wrist on a block and whack them with a hammer

Internet hard men to the right, please. Letters to the Daily Mail to the far right. No, further over. Thank you.

Not at all TooTall, i guess it’s the way i’ve been brought up but if you try and take what’s mine then one of us is going to come off worse, whether or not you see that as wrong is your opinion.

And yeah, i have been on the wrong side of the law according to what retribution i carried out and i received a rather unpleasant 6 week holiday but i’d do it again to anyone who tried to steal from me.

So what they did was wrong and they should be physically harmed, so if you also broke the law does this make you feel they have the same entitlement to harm you back out of retribution?

Restorative Justice. It has it’s place. For some offenders it can be the thing that makes them stop. For others it’s a total waste of everyone’s time.

When I have had bikes nicked I mentioned to the Police that I would like to talk to the scum and just tell them the stress, worry, cost that their action caused.

They just said don’t waste your time, they don’t have enough brain cells to compute, they have no concept of right or wrong, and they will be thinking more about where to get their next fix from.

A bit of Sharia law is needed ,Cut his hand off ,when he get caught again cut the other one off .

Edric 64 – Member
A bit of Sharia law is needed ,Cut his hand off ,when he get caught again cut the other one off .

Could you or would you pay someone else to do it?

To you your bike has history, you’ve had memorable rides on it, memorable crashes, it’s got you out in dismal weather, it’s taken you to sun drenched tracks. To the thief it’s just £££ and they will never understand the connection. Nothing said to the thief will sink in, the person will just nod and apologise until they are allowed to leave.

mikewsmith – Member
Why? Thats the only question.

A wasted question though surely…. The answer is to sell to get money. Bikes are easy to steal it’s bloody obvious ‘why’

Until the punishment by law changes (holds breath) the scum will carry on … Slap on the wrist/cushy few weeks with 3 meals a day in nick ??? Not really a deterrent is it 🙁

Yes it’s wrong to knock the living shit out of thieving scum but it stands a better chance of preventing them doing it again(if beating is administered properly 😉

for all those waving round corporal punishment whats it going to achieve?

a warm glow inside from the sense that justice has been done?

a mate of mine told me the story about a friend of his in Bonn, Germany. he had leant his bike up ooutside a petrol station and as he was paying saw someone ride off with his bike. he gave chase, but didn’t shout. he eventually caught up with the guy, threw him off te bike and proceeded to kick the shit out of him till his white trainers turned red.
rough justice, but doubt the guy will steal a bike anytime soon.

What could you possibly say to a man who does this? I kind of like the idea with the hand cut off. You steal, you pay!

somafunk – Member
i’m sure he thought twice about doing it again

alpin – Member
rough justice, but doubt the guy will steal a bike anytime soon.

You 2 (and others) should be on the Justice committee with that evidence. I mean no way those guys have ever taken a beating before, and I bet they are on the straight and narrow now.

And I bet these actions haven’t perpetuated any violence either.

Make him a cup of tea, show him some kindness, he will then give up thievery and live a long and happy life helping others.

Or my vote is for the ” whilst he turns up for the meeting go and break into his house and nick his nice things” approach.

How do you educate people that thieving is unacceptable? I suspect that as long as people have owned things, theft has happened. Although oddly enough I don’t believe Saudi have an issue with petty theft.

I can think of nothing I would want to say.
I’d just want to cut his bollocks off.

get a friend to follow the victim home!! enough said.

And yeah, i have been on the wrong side of the law according to what retribution i carried out and i received a rather unpleasant 6 week holiday but i’d do it again

Being double internet hard and stupid doesn’t make anything better.

Nothing said to the thief will sink in, the person will just nod and apologise until they are allowed to leave.

Not always. Have you ever been part of a reparation process? I have and it was pretty good. A young kid that did something very stupid was made to connect his actions with the results, met the people who had to deal with it and do something for them that went some way towards making things better. The feedback from his teachers down the line was positive. I’m not saying it can work for all, but it is a better idea than battering someone and doing time yourself like our hard man up there.

i’m not sure if the guy in my story was able to walk away unaided from the scene.

f’em…. don’t steal. then you won’t get a hiding if you are caught. sadly it is often the case that the punishment does not befit the crime…. there needs to be more of a deterrent, IMO.

I’d genuinely like to know the motivation and what they realised in terms of £$€£$€.

I remember hearing that a motorcycle of mine that had been stolen was so distinctive and “hot” that the poor thieves couldn’t move it on and in desperation it was being offered for £70.

I’d then like to explain how long it took me to earn the full price of the stolen item.

I really don’t care how many brain cells they may or may not have, but I want to waste their time and have my say.

I lost 4 bikes last year in a theft from my garage. It sucks.

I love threads like these. Makes it really easy to mark out the proper idiots and add them to the ignore list.

the US allows guns, it executes people, do you still get murders and gun crime?