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Family devastated at theft of three bikes in two days

by Hayley Robinson

A boy is devastated after his bike was stolen less than two weeks after he bought it.

And his mum's bike was taken from outside the house on the previous day.

Lee Gilchrist ran errands and saved his birthday money so he could rake together the £99 he needed to buy the BMX Redemption with white and orange wheels.

The 11-year-old planned to ride it to school when he starts at Westlands in September.

But a group of three youths, aged between 16 and 19, were seen by neighbours taking the bike, which was stored in the car port of the family home in Merleburgh Drive, Milton Regis, at around 1pm on Sunday.

Lee's limited edition chopper bike, which was chained to the BMX, was also taken. It is white with silver handles and has England 2008 written on the framework. The day before his mum Claire had her bike stolen. It is a light blue women's mountain bike, with a pink floral design on it.

Claire Gilchrist, 44, who doesn't drive said: "It took Lee three months to save the money up for the BMX and the chopper bike was a Christmas present from me. His dad, who died in 2004, used to have a chopper when he was younger and Lee always wanted one like it. He's very upset.

"What shocked me was that these lads just came up and took these bikes in daylight."

The mum-of-three, who works as a medium, said: "The chopper bike is quite distinctive so I'm hoping someone will remember seeing the youths with it and we might get it back."

Sgt Dan Worthington, of the Swale Neighbourhood policing team, said: "I can't stress enough the importance of investing in a good quality cycle lock.

"These thefts can be very opportunistic - you only need leave your bike unsecured for a moment - and we run covert operations to target these thieves. We would also recommend that cyclists mark their bikes with a UV pen. This means that if we recover a stolen bicycle it will be easier for us to return it to its rightful owner."

Anyone with information should contact police on 01622 690690 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111, quoting crime reference CY/13128/11.

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