'Van Thief' Returns To The Scene Of The Crime And Gets Run Over

Here’s a vehicle theft that’s stupid on multiple levels. In this video from Jem Speed Shop in Batley, West Yorkshire, we’re shown CCTV footage of a man on a motorbike eyeing up a flat-bed van in the yard behind. He’s then seen dumping the bike - which was stolen - over the road, and coming back to steal the van.

That’s a pretty big piece of evidence to leave behind, but hold on, because proceedings then took an even more moronic turn: someone (purportedly the thief himself) returned to fetch the bike. By which point the police were in attendance.

The man arrived riding pillion on another motorbike, went to pick up the abandoned bike (which has since been moved outside Jem Speed Shop by the police), and attempted to make his escape while being chased by officers on foot. I say ‘attempted’, because he immediately rode into the path of a passing Jaguar XF, which resulted in the hapless rider being knocked to the ground.

Unsurprisingly, the man quickly claimed he’d just been asked to pick up the bike by someone else, later clarifying that he was talking about the other rider who’d dropped him off. Oh, and while being taken into custody, he felt the need to say “I’m on drugs, me,” multiple times…