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news
Richmond Park moped gang (Image credit: Barnes CC)Richmond Park bikejacking victim feared being “decapitated in the street” by machete-wielding thugs
The Metropolitan Police Service has stepped up patrols in Richmond Park following a spate of thefts of bikes by muggers on mopeds, with two victims threatened with machetes as their bikes were stolen, with one victim saying he thought he would be “decapitated in the street.”
The most recent incident happened next to a school just outside the park’s Roehampton Gate on Monday afternoon, with the cyclist who was robbed of his bike saying he feared he would be decapitated as one of the thieves brandished a machete.
The first robbery happened at around 7pm last Wednesday, 6 October, 19:00hrs on Wednesday, 6 October, with the victim, a man in his 20s, sustaining minor injuries when he was pushed from his bike on Sawyers Hill by two men on electric scooters.
The following day, Thursday 7 October, Alpecin-Fenix professional cyclist Alexandar Richardson was threatened with a machete as he was robbed of his bike by four men on two mopeds.
> Professional cyclist robbed of bike by Richmond Park machete gang
In Monday’s incident, which happened at around the victim was 37-year-old Mike Radville from Lewisham, who told Mail Online that he thought he was going to be “decapitated in the street.”
He said: “They then pulled up alongside me and one of them showed me a machete – he only pulled it out slightly but showed it to me.
“At that moment I change gear and go for it, trying to get away as fast as I can. Then he pulls it out completely and it looked like he was going to go for me.
“I went up onto the pavement to avoid them, but then I'm running out of pavement so I went back onto the road and that's when they rammed into me, just outside the school.
“The guy got off the moped and was still waving his machete about as he didn't want anyone to get near him. He picked up my bike and jumped onto the back of the moped with my bike over his shoulder.
“One minute I was cycling along, and the next minute I thought I was going to be decapitated in the street,” he added. “It was terrifying.”
Police said they are also investigating a report of a man in his 50s being pushed off his bike in Roehampton Lane at around the same time, with two men on a moped again involved.
Chief Superintendent Elisabeth Chapple, who is the officer responsible for local policing in south-west London, said: “Many people in the area would have seen these reports on social media and will understandably be concerned. I can reassure you that we are doing everything we can to track down those responsible for these terrible crimes.
“Everyone should be able to feel safe when using Richmond Park and that's why I have arranged for additional officers to be in the area over the comings days.
“They will work alongside our dedicated Royal Parks officers and I would encourage anyone with concerns to approach them, or to call 999 in an emergency,” she added.
Detective Inspector Gavin Collins, from Operation Venice, the Met's response to moped enabled crime, said: “These incidents would have been incredibly frightening for those involved and I would like to reassure the victims and the public that we are doing everything we can to track down these dangerous individuals.
“I would ask anyone who was in or around the park at the time of any of the incidents to check for any dashcam or cycle helmet footage. This could be key to helping us track down those responsible.”
To date, no arrests have been made in connection with any of the incidents.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- Daclu Trelub 1 hour 56 min ago
That's just fucking outrageous.
- Barraob1 2 hours 5 min ago
You can hit something and have a loss of control and fall off. According to the article there was difference in height between the road surface and...
- Hirsute 2 hours 32 min ago
Double decker bus hits rail bridge - trains replaced with bus service. https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/24843532.police-update-bus-hits-brid...
- chrisonabike 1 hour 12 min ago
Not fair - I think it's just a misquotation from "1984 On Wheels" EDIT "Animal Farm On Wheels" obvs... - "Two wheels good, four wheels better!"...
- Daclu Trelub 2 hours 47 min ago
Great stuff, the BBC is simutaneously pissing off the Left and the Right. Doing its job properly.
- pait 3 hours 41 min ago
I used a Carradice saddle bag plus a full frame bag from Rogue Panda on a weeklong trip last year. Having only one of them would have made the trip...
- don simon fbpe 4 hours 28 min ago
Right whingers gonna whinge!
- bobrayner 4 hours 51 min ago
This is an article about exciting bikes for 2025...? If you want an article about exciting steel bikes in particular, I'm sure there's one from 1995.
- TheHungryGhost 5 hours 30 min ago
It was on Reporting Scotland - The BBC One Scotland news that comes on after the News at 6
- Backladder 7 hours 2 min ago
So it is only universal to the frames that are designed to work with it?
Add new comment
53 comments
You could always try putting hot sauce into a suitable spray bottle
You could try threatening the machete-wielder with your bland sandwich.
"Back off or I'll throw my ham sandwich at you!"
Not sure there was any suggestion that the assailants are vegan....
Fair enough, but a plain ham sandwich with white bread is about the most tasteless (bland) food known to Man (or Woman).
Have you never tried tofu?
(I recently tried some freshly cooked tofu pudding from a chinese supermarket that had a really nice ginger sauce to go with it, but without the sauce was like eating pure disappointment)
Depends which brand. Some's actually pretty good
I don't dislike tofu, but it does need to be with strong flavours. The baked tofu pudding (they had a bunch of them on a temporary table in little bags - still warm!) was similar to a creme caramel, but once the ginger syrup was used up, it became pointless to eat. Cauldron Foods do some good varieties.
Cauldron have a good selection of all kinds of things
I suppose there are a number of things that benefit from flavouring, food for one. I went veggie a while back, but even when I ate meat it was usually flavoured, so my style of cooking hasn't actually changed much
Not so sure about that, I ate couscous once.
Nowt wrong with good couscous, but like bread, pasta, etc. - quality matters.
I would offer up... milk loaf. Like eating antimatter.
Aah, so good they named it twice...
Are you sure it was couscous? It's delicious!
> You can use reasonable force at the point that you are in fear of being attacked.
Using reasonable force against someone armed is very dangerous unless you're armed with something bigger, too.
In that scenario, what the hell are you doing in the park, armed?
It was a general comment about self defense and assault. You don't actually have to be hit for it to be assault.
Ha ha! I remenber this from when I was a martial artist. Very difficult to avoid being stabbed.
I wonder if there's a market for artisan frame-mounted pikes?
Mouintainpikes
This should have more likes
I find this a lot...
Old news! Insert bike here:
For which all of us who live here are extremely grateful. I dare say the Mayor might say "the threat of such crimes is part and parcel of living in a big city", just as he said "the threat of terrorist attacks is part and parcel of living in a big city", something that is constantly misquoted by the right as simply "terrorist attacks are..."
Exactly, not going to leave much of a legacy is he...
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