AN anonymous tip-off led to the reunion of an Ipswich student and his stolen bike – but when he went to pick it up he found the bike in pieces.Luke Stanley was devastated after thieves made off with his customised mountain bike last week.

AN anonymous tip-off led to the reunion of an Ipswich student and his stolen bike – but when he went to pick it up he found the bike in pieces.

Luke Stanley was devastated after thieves made off with his customised mountain bike last week.

He and his dad, Dave, spent a frantic weekend searching for the bike and handing out more than 200 leaflets asking for information on its whereabouts.

They were delighted when they received a call on Sunday night telling them to head for a bus shelter on Landseer Road

Mr Stanley said: "When I got there every single bit of the bike was there but it was all in pieces.

"They've stripped it right down and it's going to cost several hundred quid to get it back to normal."

The distinctive Schwinn Moab bike was taken from the cycle racks at Suffolk college while 16-year-old apprentice plumber Luke was busy studying.

Mr Stanley said he had done weeks of overtime in a bid to buy his son the bike and that it would probably be Christmas before he will be able to afford to get it fixed.

Mr Stanley said: "It was not a good week for Luke. The only reason that he took his bike to college was because his moped blew up on Monday.

"I am so glad we've got it back but it's not going to be back to normal for a while.

"I would like to thank all the kids on the skate parks for their help. I think they must have got fed up with me pestering them with posters!"