GB triathlete’s £4,000 bike stolen from busy London location

Police are appealing for help after a British triathlete’s bike was stolen from Malet Street in the London Borough of Camden. Jessica Earp’s modified Pinarello, which had been locked up with the front wheel removed, is worth around £4,000

The Camden Safer Transport Team who are investigating the crime have managed to get CCTV footage of the bike being taken. They describe the suspect as being a white man in his early 20s, slim build wearing a light grey jumper, dark grey shorts, a black and silver cycle helmet and a black rucksack.

Earp, who recently competed in the 2014 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in Edmonton in Canada, had locked her bike to a rack and removed the front wheel. In the CCTV footage, the man takes a wheel from another parked bike. He then attaches this to the Pinarello, cuts the lock and rides away, leaving behind a bike on which he arrived.

Earp is not the first top rider to suffer the loss of a high-end bike in recent times. In 2013, Team GB track sprinter, Lewis Oliva, managed to recover his stolen Pinarello when it was put up for sale on Facebook, while this year a series of thefts in and around Manchester led Paralympic tandem pilot, Lauryn Therin, to conclude that top riders were actively being targeted by thieves.

In this instance, Malet Street is right near the University College London (UCL) and the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), and it could be that thieves are currently operating in what is a major student area at the start of term.

If you have any information, contact PC Cara Newton on 020 8733 6846 or speak to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

To minimise the chances of your bike being stolen, we recommend taking a look at our bike locking bible – a list of essential bike locking tips.