Mother who stopped bike thief in Luton ‘let down’ by police

A mother who used taekwondo techniques to stop a thief from stealing her motorbike said she felt “let down” by police.

Xristina, 31, tackled the thief, who claimed to be a 12-year-old boy, to the ground at Hatters Way Retail Park in Luton but surrendered and let him go after 10 minutes.

She added that the police car had previously passed near the scene of the incident and returned only after the thief had fled.

Bedfordshire Police said it had carried out a number of enquiries and that inquiries were ongoing.

On Monday, June 24, Xristina went to buy a drink at Chaiiwala.

She said it was “a regular, informal work day, everyone was on their lunch break.”

Then, unexpectedly, two mopeds with three passengers drove up. One of them grabbed her motorcycle.

“I felt like I was being attacked and I had to protect myself and what was mine,” she said.

“I was trained in martial arts, and in that moment all my instincts kicked in.”

CCTV footage shows her running out of the cafe and pulling the thief off his moving bike, while two other mopeds passed her and sped away.

“One of the other riders kicked me. Then I thought, ‘What if they had a knife?’ But even if they had, I would have known how to react.”

She then put a lever over the thief’s head and, with the help of one of the spectators, knocked him to the ground.

Xristina testified that they subjected her to “emotional struggle”, she cried and claimed that she was forced to commit the assault.

“He said he was only 12, although to me they looked like older teenagers.

“I fought him for about 10 minutes. Finally I let him go. I felt like I was doing something wrong – he made me feel bad about something he did.”

Even though a “friendly” police officer arrived shortly afterwards, Xristina felt frustrated.

“If only the police would turn around and help me when I needed it most,” she said.

“Something needs to change in the law and the police. It’s like an epidemic. Everyone is a target for moped thieves.

“I feel like the system is failing.”

She said there was around £2,000 damage to her bike, which was fairly new.

Bedfordshire Police said they received a report of an attempted theft at 12:50pm UK time on June 24.

The company said it had conducted several investigations, including a review of CCTV surveillance, and an investigation was ongoing.

Police said they had “recently undertaken proactive, intelligence-led operations to pursue those involved in motor vehicle theft”.

It added that five people had been arrested in connection with similar crimes in the past month.

Xristina said she is proud of her actions and appreciates the fact that she has been practicing taekwondo since the age of seven.

“They probably saw me parking and thought, ‘There’s a woman on a bike, she’ll be an easy target.’

“I think it happened at the perfect time and with the perfect person. At that moment, I said, ‘You can’t take this away from me.'”