Stolen bike found burnt out in Thornhill woods

Sometimes, being community focussed, we hear news that is frustrating, upsetting and at times causes a bit of anger.  This is one of those occasions. Just under a fortnight ago, a father in Thornhill had his motorbike stolen from outside his home.  

We put together a story (Thornhill-dad-has-bike-stolen) asking for people to keep their eyes out for the bike, and to report any relevant information to 101.  After many of you shared the story, one of our admin received a direct message from a young lad, advising that  he’d seen the bike in the woods opposite Woodlands Community College.

We received this information early one evening and passed it onto the owner of the bike.  The owner then went to the area, but with it being dark, it was really difficult to see much.  

Despite investigating for around an hour in the dark, they were unable to find the bike.  On learning that they’d ended the search, a couple of our patrollers decided to go around the area too.  Unfortunately though, it was the same result for them as well. As you can see from the pictures below, the woods there are pretty difficult to navigate with minimal light.  

The following day, in daylight, the owner (and separately one of our patrollers), tried once again to locate the bike, to no avail. Clearly, the culprits who had the bike had moved it to a new “stash” spot.  

Fast forward around a week, the bike has now been found in the woods in Thornhill, behind Tunstall Road.  Unfortunately though, it was found after having  been set alight, so it’s now an absolute write off.  The owner’s partner sent us the pictures of the bike after being burnt out, which we’ve also included.

Quite clearly, the result of this story is not a positive one. However, the owners partner did want to thank the local community for all their help with sharing the bike details, for keeping an eye out, and for all the subsequent information received.

For those who stole the bike and then burnt it out, it is not harmless fun.  You have taken transport away from a father to get to and from work to feed his kids.  We hope you can find a hobby that doesn’t involve breaking the law and stealing items from hard-working families.  

When we started SO19 and now SOnews, one of the things we’ve always been blown away by is the support across the community for each other.  When we share a story about a stolen vehicle, there are times that it is shared to around 10k people. So for those who share our stories, this is a huge thank you.