The Crankset Redemption: Prisoner escapes on bike – after stealing it from jail’s cycle repair shop

Bike thefts are becoming an increasingly common and worrying occurrence for cyclists in the UK. Just this week, new crime statistics unearthed by the Liberal Democrats found that 74,421 bikes were reported to the police as stolen in England and Wales between July 2021 and June last year – with a staggering 90 percent of those cases closed without a suspect even being identified.

In fact, the new figures also revealed that just 1.7 percent of reported bike thefts led to someone being charged.

> Almost 90% of bike thefts reported to police closed without suspect identified 

Of course, the chances of actually facing any sort of punishment for nicking a bike rise considerably if you decide to do it while in prison…

Yes, that’s right – a recent report into conditions at HM Prison Bedford, the scene of riots in 2016, revealed that a prisoner made a (briefly) successful attempt to escape last summer after stealing a bike from the jail’s new repair shop.

According to the Mirror, the two wheeled escapee evaded capture for over two hours, but was eventually picked up an impressive 45 miles away near Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, after motorists spotted him riding along the A1 towards London and called the police.

“We’ve never had anything like this before,” a source told the Mirror. “Most people would have jumped on a train and got to the other side of the country. It wasn’t exactly ‘Escape from Alcatraz’, put it that way.”

Inspectors from the Independent Monitoring Board, who were conducting a report into conditions at the Category B prison, described the escape as a “very rare event”.

The report says the bike was taken from the jail’s cycle repair shop, which opened last year and employs seven inmates.

While the short-lived escape raised questions about the prison’s security measures, the inspectors argued that it “seems to be related to an unusual set of circumstances and does not represent any inherent failure of prison security.”

The prisoner – who has brought a whole new meaning to the term ‘breakaway specialist’ – was later charged with escaping from lawful custody and slapped with an additional two months on his sentence.

“Escapes are extremely rare and this individual was recaptured within hours,” His Majesty’s Prison Service said in a statement.

“Prisoners who break the law will be punished – including extra time in jail when appropriate.”

Thomas De Gendt can breathe easy for the moment, then…