Thieves leave Chelsey with only half a bike

Chelsey Ruddell locked up her pink BMX in the secure parking spaces at the back of the shopping centre last Tuesday only to return and find the seat and wheels had been stolen.

Chelsey told how she left the bike locked up at Rushmere shortly before 4pm and went back to get it again at 8.40pm.

“I was in the youth club and forgot about the bike. The shopping centre was still open when I came back to get it,” said the 11-year-old.

“I saw the handlebars first and thought it was OK, then I saw the wheels were gone.”

Devastated Chelsey said she spoke to a security guard and asked if it was possible to get the CCTV footage from the camera that was trained on the area where the bike was parked.

“He told me the camera wasn’t recording,” said Chelsey, a pupil at Drumgor Primary School.

Rushmere later told the ‘MAIL’ they had no record of the incident.

“It must have taken them a while to get the wheels and the seat off,” said her mum Cathy, who told how she’d bought the bike for her daughter at Christmas.

“They would have needed to use an Allen key. In the time it took them they could have cut the lock and took the whole thing.”

Cathy said she’d reported the incident to police.

“Somebody must have seen something,” she added. “Rushmere is a big place and they must have been at the bike for a while.”

A spokesperson for Rushmere said: “We are not aware of this incident taking place until the call from the Lurgan Mail and have not been contacted by the local PSNI at this time. We will, of course, assist the local police in any way we can in helping with this appeal.”

Police confirmed they received a report, shortly after 9pm on Tuesday, March 23, that a bicycle seat and two wheels had been stolen from a bicycle at Rushmere Shopping Centre.

Police appealed for anyone who may have been in the area and noticed anyone carrying similar items or anyone with information about the theft to contact them on 0845 600 8000. Alternatively, information about crime can be passed anonymously to the Crimestoppers charity by calling 0800 555 111.