A student led to the arrest of a notorious petty thief after she chased the man on foot when he cycled off with her bike.
Georgina Weetch, a Pembroke undergraduate, found her bicycle had gone missing after she left it unlocked outside St. Edmund Hall. But as she walked back to college she spotted a man cycling the bike down the High Street.
She said, “I chased after him and tried to shout him down but he cycled more quickly down St Aldates.”
“I’d pretty much lost him and then I saw a police car coming out of Pembroke Street so I flagged it down and asked the police officer to chase him!
“She said she was a bit busy – I glance to the back seat and see she’s just arrested two men – so I continued the sprint but to no avail.”
Weetch then reported the bike stolen at St Aldates police station, having given up on capturing the criminal herself.
“As I was doing this the police officer … said that an undercover police officer had caught and arrested him. He claimed he was dropping if off for a friend.
“Apparently he’s quite a notorious criminal and actually had loads of jumpers stuffed up his coat.”
The man initially claimed his innocence but has now pleaded guilty to the theft.
