Police recover nine stolen bikes after owner complains of inaction

Police followed a tracking device to a haul of nine stolen motorcycles – but only after a newspaper exposed their inaction over the case.

When Sam Jackson’s Yamaha R6 was stolen, he knew what street it had been moved to thanks to the signal from its onboard tracker. But he says police told him to get it himself because they were too busy.

Two weeks later, after Jackson contacted the Haringey Independent and the paper ran a story, officers finally narrowed the bike’s location to three lock-ups with help from Acutrac, the tracker maker.

Jackson, 27, said: “When they opened the second one, they found my bike, and eight other stolen motorbikes.

“So there’s another eight people who will have been made very happy this week.”

The R6 was stolen from outside Jackson’s house in Harringay, North London, an area notorious for bike theft, and recovered earlier this month three miles away in an industrial estate.

Police said officers had initially not been able to pinpoint the bike’s location.

A statement said: “The officers attending found a large number of lock-up garages in the area. However without a more specific location, police do not have the powers to be able to take further action.”

In another recent theft in the same area, thieves uprooted a 10-foot parking sign to get a Honda CBR600RR chained to it.

Paul Grizzell’s bike was parked outside his home eight streets from Jackson’s when it was stolen in October.

The 31-year-old said: “The post was just torn from the ground. It was heart breaking.”