Cambridge bike thief spends Christmas in jail after posting stolen bike to Facebook for auction

A bike thief will spend Christmas in prison after receiving a 10-week sentence for stealing two bikes and punching an office building window.

Simon Montgomery, 19, pleaded guilty to stealing two bikes worth £420 and causing criminal damage in Cambridge in November, while he was still serving a four-week suspended jail sentence.

According to the Cambridge News, Montgomery stole the first bike and took it to his pregnant partner’s home

Paul Brown, prosecuting at Cambridge Magistrates Court, said: “The defendant had an argument with his partner when he came back because she no longer had the bike. As a result, he punched the office window.”

The pair then went for a walk when they decided to steal another bike. At Cambridge railway station they found one that was unlocked and took it home.

There they uploaded a picture of the bike to the girlfriend’s Facebook feed where it was offered for auction. The bike was eventually sold for £60.

Mr Brown said: “He explained the reason he did this was because his girlfriend was seven months pregnant at the time and had had her benefits stopped. They were short of money and needed to buy food.”

In mitigation, Monica Lenin told the court: “About four or five weeks ago he found himself a job in Subway. It’s early days but he does work there and it is probably the first job he has had.

“I accept the report says his lifestyle is chaotic but he is extremely anxious to straighten himself out. It may be little and it may be too late but he has done something.”

Last year we reported how bike thieves in Cambridge got more than they bargained for when they visited a shop to try and sell on the bicycles they had stolen, with 20 miscreants ending up behind bars as they were caught in a sting operation run by Cambridgeshire Police.

The year-long Operation Northwood was set up to fight burglary, vehicle and bike crime in Cambridge, with police setting up a shop, Wardy’s Wheels, as a front to entice criminals to seek to dispose of stolen property there.

The operation also included police deploying bait bikes fitted with GPS trackers to enable officers to trace criminals.

In all, 62 people were convicted in connection with the operation, many of those operating in gangs, including 20-year-old Andrew Dailley from Romsey, known as ‘Fat Boy’ to police, who was described as the leader of one such outfit.