Thief jailed for stealing bicycles at railway stations

9:43am Wednesday 5th September 2012 in Local News

Thief jailed for stealing bicycles at railway stations Thief jailed for stealing bicycles at railway stations

A MAN has been jailed for six months following a spree of bicycle thefts from railway stations.

John Chaplin, 58, of Ryedene Close, Basildon, pleaded guilty to four counts of theft of a cycle.

The court heard how on four occasions in March, May and June this year, Chaplin took cycles, with a combined worth of £1,550, from Benfleet and Leigh on Sea rail stations.

Heading straight for the bike sheds, he would use bolt croppers, concealed in his rucksack, to cut the chains holding the bikes to the cycle racks before removing them and leaving the station.

Comments(24)

Eric Whim says...
9:54am Wed 5 Sep 12

saddle sniffing smackhead

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Rich~Carol says...
9:58am Wed 5 Sep 12

He looks like a very trustworthy junky druken pondlife scum.

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V_is_back says...
11:23am Wed 5 Sep 12

Rich~Carol wrote:
He looks like a very trustworthy junky druken pondlife scum.
Another well-balanced and non-judgemental post from our resident magistrate.

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Dan_ says...
12:04pm Wed 5 Sep 12

V_is_back wrote:
Rich~Carol wrote:
He looks like a very trustworthy junky druken pondlife scum.
Another well-balanced and non-judgemental post from our resident magistrate.
Lol I like them though, they are making the comment section a far more interesting read.

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anon anon says...
12:10pm Wed 5 Sep 12

V_is_back wrote:
Rich~Carol wrote: He looks like a very trustworthy junky druken pondlife scum.
Another well-balanced and non-judgemental post from our resident magistrate.
you beg to differ then?

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John the resonator says...
12:13pm Wed 5 Sep 12

V_is_back wrote:
Rich~Carol wrote:
He looks like a very trustworthy junky druken pondlife scum.
Another well-balanced and non-judgemental post from our resident magistrate.
Sorry, been off line a while, is she STILL claiming to be a magistrate?

Mind you I reckon ad hominen attacks are invariably an indication of a lack of ability to present an argument.

As anyone versed in legal matters will know.

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tophatdt says...
12:41pm Wed 5 Sep 12

if looks could kill...he just looks "bad"..sorry about that...glad they caught him.

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NumberSix says...
12:48pm Wed 5 Sep 12

Why not just be done with it and treat him as all thieves should be treated

Rope around that scrawny neck and hang him.

No cost to the taxpayer, no more reoffending.

Leave your bike happily at the station

Job done.

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anon anon says...
1:48pm Wed 5 Sep 12

NumberSix wrote:
Why not just be done with it and treat him as all thieves should be treated Rope around that scrawny neck and hang him. No cost to the taxpayer, no more reoffending. Leave your bike happily at the station Job done.
brilliant, could not agree more...

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Brunning999 says...
4:14pm Wed 5 Sep 12

anon anon wrote:
NumberSix wrote:
Why not just be done with it and treat him as all thieves should be treated Rope around that scrawny neck and hang him. No cost to the taxpayer, no more reoffending. Leave your bike happily at the station Job done.
brilliant, could not agree more...
Nice one !

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NumberSix says...
4:21pm Wed 5 Sep 12

Well it is really

Cost of a rope (reusable or in modern parlance 'recyclable' for the politically correct crew.)

The old gallows in many prisons are still available and in working order with a little attention

Plenty of psychos would be happy to noose this (and his like) low life, pull the lever and, hey-ho, drop the swine in to oblivion with a nice loud snap at the end.



Little expense, no more nicking bikes (and very likely a lot more from shops and the like)

Area and world rid of another idiot and anybody else wanting to go on a nicking spree knowing that they will end up six inches taller and dead

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leigh-my-town says...
4:32pm Wed 5 Sep 12

What a scummy looking creature. Hope he gets a good peddling in his 9by6.

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boom2012 says...
5:04pm Wed 5 Sep 12

On your bike mate!!! Oh wait its not your bike.......

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firedog says...
7:08pm Wed 5 Sep 12

I feel sorry for him,he obviously had a rough childhood and never had a bike for christmas,plus with a face like that
no one would lend him one.

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boom says...
10:44pm Wed 5 Sep 12

Doesn't happen to be the same John Chaplin by any chance who helped police catch him ? http://www.echo-news
.co.uk/archive/2002/
11/07/Essex+Archive/
5462001.Pitsea__Burg
lar_left_vital_clues
/

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Alec Cikes says...
1:02am Thu 6 Sep 12

Another lost soul who doesn't belong anywhere... and feels he's owed something.
Find yourself a job, matey, whatever that may be... and stick at it. Horizons open if you can be trustworthy. You may be pleasantly surprised with your new outlook on life rather than parasiting off others.

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andy:) says...
11:33am Thu 6 Sep 12

Now you would of thought that nicking station bike thieves would be easy, put up a CCTV camera, film them and nick them..but of course most station havnt got cameras so the poor commuter is left taking a gamble whether to leave his bike their or not, persoanlly I'd never risk it. Ive already had one bike pinched and the Police were prety useless despite the bike being tagged, photoed as they suggest, I ended up personally visiting nearby shops, etc to ask if they had CCTV, most had not, even ones claiming to have !

Come on council/station/busi
nesses/Police help us cyclists out and provide decent secure bike parking we pay enough in fares & taxes.

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SendVic says...
3:51pm Thu 6 Sep 12

I'm sure "andy :)" will be pleased to know that it was station CCTV that helped catch this particular thief.

The full BTP press release is available here:

http://www.btp.press
centre.com/Media-Rel
eases/Prolific-Essex
-cycle-thief-returns
-to-jail-1c1d.aspx

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andy:) says...
5:18pm Thu 6 Sep 12

Thats very true, but from reading it, it makes it sound like a one off operation to catch a compulsive thief, whereas hundreds of bikes get stolen from stations and hardly anyone is ever caught or bikes returned.

The Echo also mentioned that people were travelling from London to steal bikes and then return by train, now surely they should be identified as the trains have CCTV too.

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SpaffSpiff84 says...
5:36pm Thu 6 Sep 12

I just ride a pink child's bike with tassles on the handlebars & a basket on the front, lets see a junky try to steal that

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Alec Cikes says...
12:27am Fri 7 Sep 12

We're so used to living with CCT cameras, why not put one at each rail station that covers cars & bicycles. This seems to be the trend in London (every person filmed at least 300 times per day). Surely the use of CCTV's would be invaluable for catching thieves.

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APR says...
9:24am Fri 7 Sep 12

CCTVs are good in theory.

The problem being, that they are usually of such poor quality, that that pictures are inadmissible in court.

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Alec Cikes says...
12:24am Sun 9 Sep 12

I'm sure that CCTV cameras are very viable & could be set up by each rail station over the car parks and cycle parking areas. It's perhaps just a question of the Borough wanting to install these appliances. Nothing's stopping them, bar finances, but it could be quite a viable project.

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grippie says...
10:38pm Fri 14 Sep 12

Reading this story reminded of a incident few years ago when I got off a train at Chalkwell Station during the afternoon. The ticket office was closed and unmanned and directly outside there was a chap, with a huge pair of bolt cutters, cutting through two heavy chains holding a very expensive bike to the railings. He claimed he had lost his keys and this was the only way he could release his bike! He then road off leaving the broken chains behind. I followed him on foot and saw him throw something towards the railway line and he then sped off. I reported it to the Leigh police who only contacted me long long time afterwards, as they had a dispute reported to them over the ownership of a bike. None of the identity pictures they showed looked anything like the person I described to them!

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