Mum who stopped Luton bike thief ‘let down’ by police

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

Xristina, 31, wrestled the robber, claiming to be a 12-year-old boy, to the ground at Hatters Way retail park in Luton, but gave up and released him after 10 minutes.

She said a police car had passed the scene earlier and only returned after the thief had escaped.

Bedfordshire Police said it had carried out “several lines of enquiry” and an investigation was “ongoing”.

Xristina had gone to buy a drink from Chaiiwala on Monday, 24 June.

She said it was “just a normal, casual working day, everybody was having a lunch break”.

Then, out of the blue, two mopeds pulled up carrying three passengers. One of them grabbed her motorbike.

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

“I’ve been trained in martial arts and at that moment, my whole instinct kicked in.”

CCTV footage shows her sprinting out of the cafe and pulling the thief from the moving bike, while the other two mopeds swerved around her and drove away.

“One of the other riders kicked me. After, I was thinking, ‘What if they had had a knife?’ But even if they had, I would know how to react.”

She then put the thief into a headlock and wrestled him to the ground, with help from a member of the public.

Xristina said they subjected her to “emotional warfare”, crying and claiming to be forced into the robbery.

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

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

Although a “supportive” police officer arrived shortly afterwards, Xristina felt frustrated.

“If only the police could have turned around and helped me when I needed them most,” she said.

“Something needs to be changed with the law and the police force. It’s like an epidemic. Everybody is being targeted by these moped thieves.

“I feel like the system is failing.”

She said her bike, which was fairly new, suffered about £2,000 worth of damage.

Bedfordshire Police said it was called to reports of an attempted theft at 12:50 BST on 24 June.

“Police have carried out several lines of enquiry, including CCTV reviews and an investigation is ongoing.”

The force said it had “recently undertaken proactive and intelligence-led operations to target those who have been involved in the theft of motor vehicles”.

It added that in the last month, five people had been arrested in connection with similar offences.

Xristina said she was proud of her actions and credits training in taekwondo since the age of seven.

“They probably they saw me parking up, thought, ‘It’s a woman on the bike, that’s going to be an easy target.’

“I believe it happened at the perfect time and to the perfect person. At that moment, I said, ‘You cannot take that away from me.'”