Found with stolen bikes worth £6,300

The two bikes, valued at over £6,000, had been taken from the cycle rack of a car parked outside the Spar shop in Hope at around 4pm on June 30, High Peak Magistrates’ Court heard.

CCTV from the shop showed two males taking the bikes and riding off down the road, prosecutor Mike Treharne said. A witness chased the two men but they got in a vehicle and drove off.

Later that evening, at just after 10pm, a Citroen Berlingo van was stopped by police on the A623 crossroads at Tideswell and the two bikes were found in the back of the van.

One of the van’s occupants, Connor Lewis Wolstenholme, told officers he had received a call from a male he refused to name asking him to collect the bikes. Wolstenholme asked his cousin to drive the pair to get the bikes but they were then stopped.

Wolstenholme, 20, of Edenhall Road, Sheffield, admitted receiving stolen goods.

John Bunting, defending, said: “This matter is clearly serious. I have to accept the defendant’s involvement is fairly close.

“It is clear that the defendant and his cousin are not the two original thieves.

“He arrives at Tideswell crossroads at about 10pm and picks up the two bikes from the roadside where he was told to collect them.

“There was little benefit to the defendant. He had been asked to collect them and told there would be some financial reward. He has been out of work for three months. He lives with his parents and is trying to get a job.”

Magistrates adjourned the case until August 19 so that a pre-sentence report could be prepared. They did not rule out the possibility of sending Wolstenholme to prison.