Police hunt serial bike thief
00:00, 21 September 2007
A PROLIFIC bicycle thief is on the run again after breaking a court order.
Daniel Westrop, 27, admitted stealing commuters’ bikes from railway stations across the South East – sometimes two a day – for three years.
He was a wanted a man when he failed to show up for sentencing, but was caught and given a 12-month supervision order as part of his punishment.
But detectives now want to track down the labourer, of Southend Lane, Bromley, who has disappeared again and failed to report to probation officers.
Westrop, who pilfered mainly men’s mountain bikes before selling them off, was caught red-handed on CCTV after officers trawled through hundreds of hours of footage.
In May, he pleaded guilty to 10 counts of bicycle theft and asked for 92 other offences to be taken into consideration – but jumped bail before being sentenced.
He was arrested in a raid on a house in Catford in June after a warrant was issued for his arrest when he failed to attend sentencing in May.
Westrop was given a five-month suspended prison sentence, a 12-month supervision order, 100 hours of community service and an ASBO banning him from the South West Trains network by Woking magistrates.
He is also wanted by magistrates at City of Westminster Court after failing to attend a hearing for two alleged burglary offences at Esher railway station last summer.
Det Sgt Paddy Kerr, from the British Transport Police, has urged anyone who knows where he is to phone 0800 40 50 40.