A doctor had his bike stolen as he battled to save lives in intensive care during the Covid pandemic.
While Dr Aiden Turner was working long over his shift trying to help patients at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, prolific thief Callum Graylish helped himself to his bike. A court heard he has a number of previous convictions for doing the same thing in and around Newcastle city centre and went on to steal two more bikes from the grounds of Newcastle University.
Graylish, who has 95 previous convictions, was also found to have large amounts of the drug Spice, worth hundreds of pounds. Now the 26-year-old, of Cambourne Grove, Bensham, Gateshead, has been jailed for 16 months at Newcastle Crown Court after he pleaded guilty to three counts of theft and one of possessing Spice with intent to supply.
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He was arrested for the drugs offence in August 2020 after he was found with Spice in his pocket, buttocks and home, worth a total of £880. Then in June last year he was targeting pedal bikes when he spotted the senior doctor's £850 Specialized bike, which had been secured outside the hospital with two locks.
Liam O'Brien, prosecuting, said: "The victim is Dr Aiden O'Brien, who arrived to start helping in the battle against Covid at 7.20am. He began a lengthy shift until 9.30pm, when he found the bike and two locks had been stolen."
In a victim impact statement, the doctor said he relied on the bike to commute to work and lost out financially as a result of its theft. He added: "On that day I had been due to finish work at 8.30pm but stayed on an extra hour to help out. It had been a hard, busy day and coming out to find my bike had been stolen was very demoralising. "
The medic ended up having to travel home on the Metro while wearing his cycling gear.
On successive days in September, Graylish stole two more bikes, one worth £1,000, within an hour and 90 minutes of them being left with locks on. Mr O'Brien said: "He was targeting areas where high value bikes are likely to be found."
The court heard in previous bike theft offences, Graylish has been armed with bolt cutters and has targeted areas including a school.
Rachel Hedworth, defending, said he is currently serving a two year prison sentence imposed last October and wants to move to Southampton with his partner when he is released. Miss Hedworth said: "He is extremely sorry for everything that has gone on."
She added that he has mental health issues, including psychosis which she said was probably due to his cannabis misuse. Miss Hedworth said Grayligh had previously thrown himself off the Redheugh Bridge last year and was rescued.
