A young boy who saved up to buy his dream bike only to have it stolen from school just before Christmas was left “shocked, tearful and upset”.
Julie Dennis said her 10-year-old son Liam was distraught to find his bike missing from Cedarwood Primary School in Kesgrave and furious that anyone would have stolen from a child.
“I was really annoyed and angry that someone had climbed over a school fence and has done that,” she said. “I can’t believe that anyone would have stooped so low as to steal from a kid – it’s just wrong.”
Liam had pooled all his pocket money and birthday presents over the past two years to buy the stylish white and gold BMX, which was said to be his pride and joy.
He rode it from the family’s Terry Gardens home to school and back every day and would play on it with friends at weekends.
“He absolutely loved it, he was always riding on it and showing it off to his mates,” said Julie.
But on December 10, just two months after he bought the bike, Liam was sent home sick from school and forgot to take it with him.
Arriving for classes the following morning he was shocked and saddened to find the bike missing.
“It’s not a very nice thing to happen just before Christmas, he was quite upset and very shocked by it,” Julie said.
Liam and Julie together with dad Paul, older brother James and older sister Charlotte had only recently moved to Kesgrave from Thurrock having sought it out as a safe and respectable place to raise their family.
“We looked at the crime rates and we thought it looked like a really nice place to live, moved up and then this happened,” said Julie.
Although the family enjoyed a pleasant Christmas together and Liam received lots of great gifts, they decided not to buy him a replacement bike, in the hope that his stolen BMX might still be traced.
“He still hopes we might find it and we are forever looking for it hoping that it might turn up,” said Julie.
“Someone must have seen it.”
The bike, a white Blank Cell BMX with gold accessories, is quite distinctive, which the family hopes might aid in its discovery.
In addition to the gold chain the bike came with, Liam had also customised his with silver accessories on the tyre valve caps.
Anyone with information about Liam’s bike is asked to contact Kesgrave Neighbourhood Policing Team on 101.
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