19-year-old quadbike thief from Thornbury caught in police 'sting' (From Gazette Series)

19-year-old quadbike thief from Thornbury caught in police 'sting'

9:07am Tuesday 19th February 2013 in News By Gazette reporter

A 19-YEAR-OLD Thornbury man was caught in a police 'sting' when he stole a quadbike from a barn in Cam, a court heard.

The Suzuki quadbike had been fitted with several tracking devices and was being monitored by a secret CCTV camera when Ryan Savery took it from Hornshill Cottage, Bristol Road.

The quadbike, owned by Christopher Sealey, was tracked to a field near Tortworth but there was no sign of the thief so the CCTV was checked, Gloucester Crown Court was told.

Images of the thief were circulated and two PCs from Avon and Somerset force positively identifed him as Savery, of St David's Road, Thornbury.

Savery denied he was the thief and claimed the two officers were lying about their identification.

But his appeal against his conviction on the grounds that the officers were not telling the truth was dismissed by Recorder Michael de Navarro QC, sitting with two magistrates.

The Recorder said: "This is not a case where it is suggested there has been mistaken identification. The suggestion is that the two officers have both lied to ensure the conviction of this man and have made false identifications when they knew perfectly well that they could not identify the defendant.

"We think the images they looked at are good enough to make identification.

"We also note that the defendant, although making these serious allegations, has not gone into the witness box himself to give any substance to his case or to deny being there or being part of the offence.

"We have to ask ourselves if we are sure these two officers have told the truth and we are so satisfied."

He dismissed the appeal but declined to order Savery to pay any of the £600 costs as he remains in prison until April 30.

The court had been told that the quadbike was stolen between 4am and 6am on February 16, 2012, and Savery was arrested on February 27. He said nothing when charged or interviewed.