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Man who bought bike outside pub viciously attacked on way home

52 year old agreed to buy bicycle as he drank outside his local

A man who bought a bike outside his local pub was left unable to speak for weeks when he was attacked cycling home.

Colin Flett, 52, bought a bike off a stranger at his local, The Beaten Docket in Cricklewood Broadway, and cycled home later that night.

On his way, he was attacked by three men, and sustained 'life-changing' injuries.

Colin, from Cricklewood, London, remembers nothing of the attack on July 7th.

When the assault was reported to police several days later, Colin was unable to relay any information to them or his family.

His sister told officers that he had been drinking, and while sitting outside the pub he bought a blue Reebok pedal cycle from a man unknown to him.

He left on the cycle, and turned into Skardu Road, where he remembers encountering three men who pushed him off the bike but he cannot remember anything more, police said.

Spinal injuries have meant Colin has had to recover in hospital.

Detective Sergeant Richard Greenwood said: "This was a vicious attack that has left Colin with life-changing injuries, in a very vulnerable state, and has had a devastating effect on his family.

"We would urgently ask any person with information, however inconsequential they may think it is, to come forward and pass this to us directly or via a third party.

"They will be treated in complete confidence."

The men who attacked Colin are all described as being white and aged between 20 to 30.

Anyone with information can call the unit's CID number on 0766 781 861 on or 101 or Tweet @MetCC.

 

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16 comments

Avatar
BehindTheBikesheds | 4 years ago
2 likes

£100 is still £100 but fucks sakes you can buy a decent second hand bike for less than that. I've just sold for £70 a 90s Trek Antelope with True temper OX tubes, 3x7 STIs, QR ally wheels, near new tyres and an STX chainset/derailleurs.

More than likely to last 10 times longer than some bag o shite from the cesspit of BSOs despite the fact it's not far shy of 25 years old itself. I got my grandson a DiamondBack BMX for £4 on ebay, it was near mint and was originally £250

I just shake my head when people used to come out of Toys r Us, Argos, Halfords (though they've got better generally) Tesco etc with some piece of scrap metal.

It's these kind of bikes that end up getting left in sheds and the owners stop cycling because they fail so quickly and are usually depressingly heavy even in small kids sized bikes that the owners simply don't bother with them again until they end up down the tip!

Hope they get the bastards that did this but doubtful.

Avatar
exilegareth | 6 years ago
5 likes

Man who drinks in dodgy pubs in dodgy areas and buys dodgy gear off dodgy geezers gets lamped' is hardly a story is it?

Avatar
don simon fbpe | 6 years ago
3 likes

From an actual strange bloke, I literally wouldn't buy a bike in a pub.

Avatar
brooksby replied to don simon fbpe | 6 years ago
2 likes

don simon wrote:

From an actual strange bloke, I literally wouldn't buy a bike in a pub.

Yes,  I started writing a sentence which got a bit convoluted and broke some grammatical rules... Sorry about that   1

Avatar
brooksby | 6 years ago
2 likes

Quick show of hands: assuming that it wasn't a pre-arranged meeting, how many people would buy a bike literally from a strange bloke down the pub for cash??

Avatar
FrankH replied to brooksby | 6 years ago
7 likes

brooksby wrote:

Quick show of hands: assuming that it wasn't a pre-arranged meeting, how many people would buy a bike literally from a strange bloke down the pub for cash??

Alessandro Andreoli probably would.

http://road.cc/content/news/227007-italian-amateur-accused-motor-doping-...

Avatar
atlaz | 6 years ago
1 like

A stolen reebok bike can't be worth more than a tenner down at the local. Nobody is going to assault someone for a tenner split three ways

Avatar
Dr_Lex | 6 years ago
3 likes

Reebok make bikes ? 

Agree with atlaz 's view of the situation, rather than it being a random attack.

Avatar
pakennedy replied to Dr_Lex | 6 years ago
5 likes

Dr_Lex wrote:

Reebok make bikes ? 

 

No. They make bike shaped objects that Argos sell for £100

Avatar
exilegareth replied to pakennedy | 6 years ago
0 likes

pakennedy wrote:

Dr_Lex wrote:

Reebok make bikes ? 

 

No. They make bike shaped objects that Argos sell for £100

No. Good effort though. Chinese blokes make bikes which reebok put labels on before selling them in Argos for more than they are worth, given that the likely value doesn't require folding money.

 

Avatar
pakennedy replied to exilegareth | 6 years ago
0 likes

exilegareth wrote:

pakennedy wrote:

Dr_Lex wrote:

Reebok make bikes ? 

 

No. They make bike shaped objects that Argos sell for £100

No. Good effort though. Chinese blokes make bikes which reebok put labels on before selling them in Argos for more than they are worth, given that the likely value doesn't require folding money.

 

 

That's much more accurate. My sister bought a similar thing for my nephew. The V-brakes were literally thin pressed iron that flexed when you applied them. It was frighteningly poorly built.

Avatar
DaveE128 replied to pakennedy | 6 years ago
2 likes

pakennedy wrote:

exilegareth wrote:

pakennedy wrote:

Dr_Lex wrote:

Reebok make bikes ? 

 

No. They make bike shaped objects that Argos sell for £100

No. Good effort though. Chinese blokes make bikes which reebok put labels on before selling them in Argos for more than they are worth, given that the likely value doesn't require folding money.

 

 

That's much more accurate. My sister bought a similar thing for my nephew. The V-brakes were literally thin pressed iron that flexed when you applied them. It was frighteningly poorly built.

I think some of you guys aren't quite understanding the term "bicycle shaped object". Google it. The meaning is that although it bears a passing resemblance to a bicycle, it is in reality no such thing, and using it as though it were actually a bicycle is highly dangerous.

Whatever the story, the guy didn't deserve to end up paralysed.  2

Avatar
Yorkshire wallet replied to DaveE128 | 6 years ago
3 likes
DaveE128 wrote:

pakennedy wrote:

exilegareth wrote:

pakennedy wrote:

Dr_Lex wrote:

Reebok make bikes ? 

 

No. They make bike shaped objects that Argos sell for £100

No. Good effort though. Chinese blokes make bikes which reebok put labels on before selling them in Argos for more than they are worth, given that the likely value doesn't require folding money.

 

 

That's much more accurate. My sister bought a similar thing for my nephew. The V-brakes were literally thin pressed iron that flexed when you applied them. It was frighteningly poorly built.

I think some of you guys aren't quite understanding the term "bicycle shaped object". Google it. The meaning is that although it bears a passing resemblance to a bicycle, it is in reality no such thing, and using it as though it were actually a bicycle is highly dangerous.

Whatever the story, the guy didn't deserve to end up paralysed.  2

Some people on here are like Mr Logic from Viz and take everything literally.

Avatar
Nick T | 6 years ago
2 likes

More likely the guy who sold it saw the wad of cash in the guy's pocket

Avatar
atlaz | 6 years ago
4 likes

This has all the hallmarks of "bike gets nicked; bike gets sold to bloke; owner of bike sees bloke on his bike and exacts revenge". 

Obviously it's an incredibly violent assault and the after effects of it will be felt for a long time; but who buys a bike off an unknown person in a pub and doesn't expect it to be stolen. 

Avatar
StuInNorway replied to atlaz | 6 years ago
7 likes

Or : Bike get's nicked, sold to bloke in pub, hoodlums with stolen bike fetish wait around, steal bike back, while beating up guy they sold it to, move onto another pub and repeat.

Most likely they normally just rough them up enough to get bike back, as people are unlikely to report "the scumback that soldme a clearly stolen bike, then stole it back" to the police in case theyare done for handling stolen goods.  For some reason either they pushed him harder and he fall very badly, or they just went nuts on him as he wouldn't return "their" bike..

atlaz wrote:

This has all the hallmarks of "bike gets nicked; bike gets sold to bloke; owner of bike sees bloke on his bike and exacts revenge". 

Obviously it's an incredibly violent assault and the after effects of it will be felt for a long time; but who buys a bike off an unknown person in a pub and doesn't expect it to be stolen. 

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