A FUGITIVE bike thief was stopped in his tracks by police as he passed at the scene of his crimes with a bicycle.Today Darren Bray is serving a 10-week prison sentence for stealing nine bikes from Ipswich railway station and breaching a conditional discharge.

A FUGITIVE bike thief was stopped in his tracks by police as he passed at the scene of his crimes with a bicycle.

Today Darren Bray is serving a 10-week prison sentence for stealing nine bikes from Ipswich railway station and breaching a conditional discharge.

It was the second time Bray had been caught after walking past police who were looking for him during his crime spree.

On the first occasion he was taken into custody when seen just yards from the town's police station.

The day before the 30-year-old had eluded British Transport and Suffolk police officers chasing him through Ipswich after his third bicycle theft had been captured on CCTV.

However Bray was recognised by one of the officers when he saw the television images. After leaving the police station while on duty on August 13, the officer saw Bray near Black Horse Lane and arrested him.

He questioned and then released on bail until August 24. When it appeared that Bray had not returned on his bail date, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Despite already being caught once by police, Bray - who has a drugs problem - continued targeting bikes stored at the railway station.

He managed to steal a six more before being stopped in a routine check by police who were posted by the Station Hotel on the day of the Ipswich v Crewe game on October 1.

A check of Bray's details on their national database showed him to be a wanted man and he was arrested. Ironically, there was no evidence that the bike he was with at the time was stolen.

Pc Darren Jenkins, the officer investigating the thefts said it had been difficult to trace Bray, of no fixed abode, during the intervening period.

He said: “His description had been circulated as wanted on the police national computer, but there was no way of tracking him down as he did not have an address. We knew it was him because we had CCTV to prove it on every occasion, but it was a matter of finding him.

“Since he has been jailed we have not had any more thefts and I'm very happy that he has now been caught.”

When he appeared at South East Suffolk magistrates' court in Ipswich, Bray pleaded guilty to stealing nine bicycles. The BTP believe their total value was between £1,500 and £2,000.

Bray was sentenced to one-week consecutively for each of the thefts and an additional week for the breach of a previous conditional discharge.