Two teenage bike thieves, who threatened a cyclist with an angle grinder before stealing his e-mountain bike, have been arrested and charged following a dramatic police chase.
The attempted theft took place on Monday 19 October at around 1.20pm on Hyde Road in Gorton, Greater Manchester.
The victim was riding his legal Mondraker e-mountain bike when he was approached by two masked men, both 18, who confronted him with an angle grinder, typically used by thieves to cut through locks, and violently stole his bike.
According to a statement issued by Greater Manchester Police, officers were carrying out “proactive” patrols in the area when the cyclist reported the mugging, and were able to arrive at the scene within a minute of the report being made, swiftly locating the thieves.
The officers then set off in pursuit of the criminals, with dashcam and bodycam footage of the chase, posted by the police on social media, showing one of the thieves riding the stolen e-mountain bike while the other was on a moped.
After attempting to evade police by riding on an off-road path, the two thieves then ditched the bikes and tried to escape on foot. An officer can be seen running towards the men, brandishing a taser, and shouting: “Get on the floor now!”
The officer then tasered the suspect before arresting him. The second thief was chased by another officer through a park before being apprehended.
The two suspects, Mason Portlock and Luke Beale, both 18, have since been charged with robbery and possession of a bladed article. One of the men was also wanted in connection with separate offences of robbery, possession of an offensive weapon, and breaching a court order.
Both suspects were remanded in custody and appeared at Manchester and Salford Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
As the Gorton-based e-mountain biker discovered to his cost on Monday, angle grinders have become the tool of choice for bicycle thieves in the UK, popping up in almost every bike theft story we cover on this site – though they are normally used for cutting through locks and enabling criminals to snatch parked bikes from their stands.
> “The last lock you’ll ever need”: check out the £180 U-lock that’ll survive 10 angle grinder discs
Last week, Reform UK Nigel Farage weighed in on Britain’s bike theft epidemic, promising to call for tougher action and more prosecutions, after he shared a video of two apparent thieves stealing a bike in Shoreditch, the cap-wearing criminals using an angle grinder to break through the bike’s lock before rather clumsily riding away on it.
And in August, Christopher Forrester was jailed for the theft of a bicycle and for breaching his Criminal Behaviour Order, after he attempted to evade two police officers who tried to stop him cutting through the bike’s lock with an angle grinder on a busy street in the City of London.
Members of the public were praised for their role in halting Forrester, a well-timed tackle by two passers-by enabling the officers to catch and arrest him.
Last year we reported that a security guard was also hailed an “absolute hero” after he got in the way of a would-be bike thief who then attacked him with his angle grinder outside a café on Holywell Lane in Shoreditch.
Regardless of the thieves’ chosen weapon, violent bikejackings like the one in Gorton this week have become a worryingly common phenomenon in the UK in recent years.
Last month, one bikejacking victim told road.cc that he is still recovering from the psychological impact of the attack, which saw him forced off the road and cornered by two thieves riding Lime bikes and mopeds.
The victim, who did not wish to be named, was cycling on Whateley Road in East Dulwich, on his way to Regent’s Park when he was ambushed in what he described as a “co-ordinated and aggressive” manner by two thieves, one on a moped and the other riding a Lime bike.
The incident took place on 6 August 2026 at around 6.20am – in “broad daylight”, as the cyclist notes – near Whateley Road’s junction with Lordship Lane.
“They used the familiar tactic of a coordinated and aggressive method to force me off the road, box me in on the pavement, and violently steal my bike,” the cyclist told road.cc.
“After calling 999, I waited on the side of the road for about two hours for the police to arrive, being told the shift had just changed. Thankfully some kind residents stayed with me to make sure I was okay.”
Earlier in September, we reported that a 12-year-old boy was riding in Richmond Park when his mountain bike was stolen. Meanwhile, Richmond Park Cyclists, an association of several local cycling clubs and riders, has collated at least seven further incidents of masked riders on illegally modified electric motorbikes harassing and intimidating cyclists through the park.
In February, two motorbike-riding thieves, allegedly brandishing a knife, were also caught on camera stealing a woman’s bike outside a busy café in Bermondsey, with Met officers taking two hours to arrive at the scene.
1 thought on ““Get on the floor now!” Violent e-bike thieves stopped and tasered by police in dramatic chase after threatening cyclist with angle grinder”
I would happily tattoo “thieving scum” across the foreheads of this pair.