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news
ebay logo 2015Couple who sold stolen bikes on eBay spared jail
A couple from Wrexham have avoided jail despite their involvement in a sophisticated operation where bikes were disguised and then sold within weeks of being stolen. Bicycles to the value of £20,000 were said to have passed through the hands of Patryke Pawel Pudlo and Urszula Barbara Skotnicka over a 12-month period, the pair collecting bikes from London before selling them via eBay.
Anna Pope, prosecuting, told Mold Crown Court how bikes had been taken from London, Suffolk and Sussex. News North Wales reports that parts such as wheels would be changed on some so that the owners would not recognise them. Pudlo and Skotnicka would then pretend to be the owners when buyers came to collect.
Bikes taken included a Specialized Roubaix bike valued at £2,000, a Pearson Lighter Than Air model valued at £3,000 and a Storck Fenomalist frame estimated to be worth £2,400.
Pudlo pleaded guilty to 10 charges of handling stolen goods and received a 21-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, with 300 hours’ unpaid work. Skotnika denied five charges of handling stolen goods, but was convicted at an earlier trial. She received a 14-month prison sentence, suspended for a year, with 200 hours’ unpaid work. They must also pay compensation of £4,160.
Judge Niclas Parry said that bike theft was reaching ‘epidemic proportions’ in the UK.
“This was professional theft and you were close to the original offender,” he told Pudlo. “By your own admission it was greed, not financial need.”
The judge did however take into account Pudlo’s guilty plea and also made reference to the financial support he gave his sister back home in Poland, saying that her continued treatment for serious illness depended to an extent on the monthly financial support he was providing.
He accepted Skotnicka had a lesser role under the influence of her partner but said she had been foolish to have a trial in the face of overwhelming evidence.
In July, A soldier found his stolen bike for sale on eBay and after arranging to meet the seller, discovered that he was a non-commissioned officer from his own barracks. The soldier subsequently reported him to the Royal Military Police, who made an arrest.
If you are a regular eBay shopper, the website has a guide on how to spot stolen bikes. We also have a guide to finding a bargain from a genuine bike shop on there.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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17 comments
Can I just point out that this isn't the Daily Mail website ?
Are you sure? There's a lot of news posts that are designed to get us all riled up and angry. There's lots of angry polarised views on small issues like helmet wearing.
I say bring back hanging for bike thieves!
Okay, more seriously, can't they at least be deported?
Seems OK for just about every other country in the world to do to Brits so why can't we reciprocate?????
I was half joking about that. I personally think it would be reasonable to deport criminals if they don't have a UK passport for a period of time (5 years?) if the crime is serious enough to usually warrant a prison sentence. I'd definitely prefer ALL bike thieves to be deported - maybe send them to Australia if they are UK subjects.
More realistically, that does sound like some far right politics, so I think I should drop the deporting idea. However, this pair deserves more punishment than a suspended sentence, community service and a fine. They were career thieves and it rankles that their fine was less than the value of just a couple of the bikes that they stole.
And your point is?
That sentence is neither deterrent nor appropriate punishment. What's the point of law and our judiciary structure if it doesn't protect society? Small wonder that a D lock has had it's utility range broadened.
Is it still "unpaid community service" if you get to keep most of the crime cash?
All that needs to be said is that the courts are pathetically detached from reality. A totally inadequate sentence. They should have got 5 years prison then deportation on their releases.
Hardly surprising given the total reluctance on the part of the judiciary to hand down appropriate sentences.
I was laughed at a few months back for hoping for Sharia Law's arrival. I increasingly think the government and judiciary actually want everyone to turn that way. They certainly come down hard on people 'taking the law into their own hands' (whose law ffs???) yet seem determined to bring the law into total disrepute. So what's left?
Edit - I wrote that before reading the article on the assault by the car thief. Just reinforces the point.
Slowly turning into Londonistan... But same for my country.
No more pride in community, just people who come and pilfer...
Another member of the Judiciary living in Cloud Cuckoo Land, maybe all judges should be subject to daily drugs and alcohol tests as they are clearly in a differant plane of existance to everyone else.
So they made £20000 from the sales and paid back £4160 in compo plus 500 hours total community service, which at the minimum wage is £3350. No jail for the perps and a tidy profit of £12490. Sounds like justice to me. Well done judge, well done.
Which he was able to do because he was fucking stealing bikes!
Are the judicary really that dumb?
Yep, but it's OK to steal if you're doing it to support someone not in the UK.
It's called foreign aid and the government have been doing it for years.
Makes you wonder what you have to do to get put away these days, probably cycling without lights or hi-viz.
So if I rob a bank, is "I was giving the money to pay care home fees for my dear sainted mother " now a valid excuse? What rubbish!