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Thief Tries To Charge Cyclist To Buy His Own £2,000 Bike Back

Thief Tries To Charge Cyclist To Buy His Own £2,000 Bike Back

The dramatic chase to reclaim the stolen bike was captured on the Uber Eats cyclist's GoPro.

Jake Massey

Jake Massey

A thief tried to charge a man £20 ($27) to buy back his £2,000 ($2,758) bike. Watch the dramatic chase that followed the theft here:

Uber Eats cyclist Harry Virgoe had his electric bike stolen from outside a McDonald's restaurant on Westgate Street, Gloucester, UK, and having been alerted by his alarm, gave chase on foot.

It looked like hope was lost for the 22-year-old as the thief got away, until a compassionate delivery driver came to his aid, offering to drive him around as they tracked the bike using GPS.

Eventually, they found the culprit and stopped him in his tracks, but he didn't just hand over the pricey bike - he demanded 20 quid for it.

The thief had some cheek.
Kennedy News and Media

The thief claimed he'd just bought it off someone for that price and demanded he get a refund before returning the stolen wheels.

Harry then went to the cash machine while the delivery driver guarded the bike, but when police arrived at the scene, he immediately told them that the man had stolen his bike.

Kean Cunningham was arrested for the theft on 8 April, and two days later, the 42-year-old was jailed for 16 weeks for theft of a bike while serving a suspended sentence and was ordered to pay the victim £815 ($1,124) in compensation - but Harry said he hasn't seen a penny of that yet.

He has since shared the GoPro footage from the chase on YouTube where it's racked up more than 360,000 views.

Cunningham was jailed.
Kennedy News and Media

Reflecting on the ordeal, he said: "I couldn't believe the audacity he had to ask me for £20, but he was obviously panicking and that's the first thing he thought of.

"He was lying enough times to believe it himself, and once you do that it does sound convincing. I knew it was him [who stole the bike]. He was just talking out of his a**e.

"He was quite intimidating. He's a big guy.

"The only reason I was offering to give him the money was just to keep him there while the police came. It allowed me to get him over to where the bright lights and the shop is, so it worked out well."

Harry also thanked the anonymous hero who came to his rescue.

Harry said the delivery driver who helped him as a 'hero'.
Kennedy News and Media

He said: "The driver is a hero. He was just doing what he thought was right and didn't care about getting paid for it or anything.

"He didn't know me, he didn't know what bike I was riding, and he didn't see anything happen, but he was just on it. He probably would have missed out on a few orders."

He added: "I think he was more keen on getting the bike back than I was because he was swearing about him in the car, and when we were running up to him, he was running faster than me... When I got the bike back I just said [to the delivery driver], 'you're a legend,' and tried to offer him the money the thief wanted, but he said he didn't want my money. I'm really grateful."

Featured Image Credit: Kennedy News and Media

Topics: Bike, UK News, crime