A prolific thief who stole bikes in and around Watford town centre over three months has been jailed.

John Smith stole bikes mostly from the High Street and Rickmansworth Road areas between June and August, St Albans Crown Court heard.

He was arrested on Thursday, August 5, after he was stopped in Watford town centre and found to have a set of Allen keys, bolt croppers and a lock-picking tool on his person, as well as two suspected stolen bikes.

A search of his property subsequently revealed even more suspected stolen bikes, which were seized by police.

He was charged with:

  • Ten counts of theft of a pedal cycle
  • One count of going equipped for theft
  • One count of breach of a Criminal Behaviour Order (CBO)

Smith, who had been remanded in custody after being charged, appeared at court to be sentenced on Friday, September 3.

The 34-year-old, of Chow Square in Dalston, London, was sentenced to 12 months in prison.

Now Smith has been convicted and sentenced, police have issued photographs of the recovered bikes in the hope they can return them to whom they belong.

Watford Observer:

Watford Observer:

The bikes that were stolen (image Hertfordshire Constabulary)

PC Rory Farmer, from the Watford Local Crime Unit, said: “Smith is a notorious thief and clearly has no qualms about targeting honest and hard-working people.

“We are pleased that he has received a custodial sentence and is no longer free to commit his crime sprees which harm the community.

“We have already reunited one bike with its rightful owner but we are now releasing images of others we currently have stored in the hope we can return them to their original owners.

“To date we have been unable to match these bikes to any existing crime reports so if you believe one of them may be yours, please get in touch.

“You will need to provide proof of ownership and/or the bike’s serial number in order to have it returned to you.”

You can email PC Farmer at rory.farmer@herts.police.uk, report information online at herts.police.uk/report, talk to one of the Force Communication Room operators via web chat at herts.police.uk/contact, or call the non-emergency number 101 quoting reference 41/B2/17413/21.

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