Thief caught after mum picketed his house with ‘Where’s my bike Dave?’ sign | UK News

A prolific bicycle thief has finally been brought to justice after the mum of one of his victims found out where he lived and picketed his home with a sign saying ‘Where’s my bike Dave?’

David Seagar, 49, was identified as the culprit behind a spate of thefts in Oxfordshire but despite reporting her son’s stolen mountain bike to police, Fiona Bateman said ‘not much was happening’.

So Fiona, 54, decided to take matters into her own hands by staging a three-day sit-in outside Seager’s house with the homemade sign.

Her one-woman crime fighting campaign was cheered on by social media users, including members of the Spotted Witney Facebook group who dropped off some flowers and hot chocolate.

Seagar was eventually hauled before a judge at Oxford Crown Court and convicted of stealing eight bikes.

But Fiona said she has been left disappointed all over again when he walked free with ‘a slap oon the wrist’.

His two-year jail sentence was suspended for two years and Seagar was ordered to complete a drug rehabilitation scheme and the thinking skills programme.

Following the sentencing Fiona said: ‘We had a bike stolen by him. Does that mean I should feel entitled to steal someone else’s?

‘It’s just frustrating that he got a slap on the wrist.

‘Where are the bikes? How about buying my son a new bike? We can’t afford the four, five, six hundred pounds to replace it.

‘He stole so my son has to now walk. But that’s OK, just as long as Dave doesn’t feel aggrieved.’

She added: ‘It really does feel like Dave has just got away with it.’

Seagar used bolt cutters to slice his way through locks in order to get away with bicycles ranging in value from a few hundred pounds to an e-bike worth more than £2,000.

One victim returned from an appointment to find that his bicycle, left locked up outside a GP surgery in Witney, had vanished.

Another was taken from outside Witney leisure centre, the court was told.

Seagar’s barrister Peter du Feu characterised his attitude as ‘I had my bike stolen, I’ve got mobility problems so really I’m fairly callous about taking other people’s bikes’.

Passages of a probation report were read out by the judge, with Seagar described as showing a ‘sense of entitlement’, stealing bikes ‘deliberately and brazenly’ simply to get him from A to B.

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