Policeman Found Not Guilty of Handling Stolen Ealing Bikes

After buying bikes that had been stolen from outside Ealing  Broadway station

A policeman who bought two Brompton bikes which had been stolen from outside Ealing Broadway station has been found not guilty of handling stolen goods.

PC Tomas Keating, 32 attached to the Specialist Crime and Operations Command, was alleged to have received the bicycles on 23 June and 2 July 2015.

He was charged with two other defendants; Mustafa Dahir, 25, of Somerset Close, Tottenham, charged with two counts of theft and two counts of fraud and Luqman Lemoudni, 29, of Bury Road, Wood Green, who was charged with one count of handling stolen goods.

Lemoudni had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing to one count of handling stolen goods in relation to one of the stolen bikes. Dahir changed his plea to guilty of the two thefts and was acquitted of the two fraud charges.

The court heard how Dahir stole the two bikes from a Brompton Bike Hire Ltd docking station in Ealing Broadway on the evening of 19 June 2015.

Lemoudni advertised one of the stolen bikes for sale on Gumtree on 22 June. PC Keating responded to the advert and Lemoudni sold the bike to him the following day. PC Keating, unaware the bike was stolen, then sold it on after advertising it for sale on Gumtree on 27 June.

On 1 July the second stolen bike was advertised for sale by Dahir on Gumtree. PC Keating responded to this advert and bought it on 2 July.

On 7 July PC Keating advertised this bike for sale on Gumtree. He was arrested while trying to sell it outside New Southgate Station on 9 July.

Now that criminal proceedings have concluded a misconduct review will take place.

Dahir and Lemoudni will be sentenced on 17 February.

18th January 2017