Teen who stole blood donor's bike is given a caution

The bike has not been returned to its owner

A teenager who stole a bike while its owner was giving blood in Preston, has been given a cautionÂ by police.

The teen who is from Preston but cannot be named for legal reasons, was due to appear on January 30 at the Youth Court but has had his case discontinued, says the Crime Prosecution Service.

A CPS spokesman said:“The decision to charge was not taken by the CPS. At the first hearing of this matter we were advised by the Youth Offending Team (YOT) that they were willing to provide ongoing support for the youth who cannot, obviously, be named.

"With assistance from the YOT, this case was appropriate for diversionary action and we referred it back to the police for a caution to be administered.”

IT worker, David Bayliss, parked and padlocked his bike outside the Gujurat Centre in South Meadow Lane at around 4.50pm on October 11 as he went about helping the community by donating blood.

It was only when he returned to retrieve his bike, which is worth around Â£1,000, some 50 minutes later that he realised callous thieves had struck.

The IT worker did not retrieve his bike following the incident and still continues to live with the inconvenience of its loss.

He said: "It sounds like he has been allowed to get away with it, absolutely no come back to the offender.

"Yet as the victim I’m completely out of pocket, and have not even been advised of this outcome."