A THIEF chose the wrong bicycle to steal when he visited the University of York campus, a court heard.

Jason Ian Coolledge, 33, faced 36 weeks in jail if he committed any offence at all – and he rode off on a bicycle owned by North Yorkshire Police.

Officers were able to track down their property and the thief was caught and taken before York Crown Court because he was on a suspended prison sentence imposed for injuring a baby on its head.

Bashir Ahmed, prosecuting, said when Coolledge received the 36-week jail term he was allowed to walk out of court but warned that a judge could order him to serve the sentence if he broke any of a series of conditions, including not committing any more crimes in the next two years. Eighteen months after he got the sentence, he stole the bicycle.

Coolledge, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to theft and admitted that the crime breached the suspended sentence.

But after hearing from defence barrister Taryn Turner that Coolledge was turning his life around, Recorder Tim Hirst decided not to make him serve the sentence.

Instead, he put Coolledge on a three-month nightly curfew and ordered him to do 90 hours’ unpaid work. Mrs Turner said Coolledge had got himself a job for two hours a day as a cleaner. “He is making some positive progress,” she said. Coolledge also admitted stealing a bottle of vodka from Morrison’s in York. That did not breach the suspended sentence because it was after the two years expired.

She said the thefts were minor offences. Coolledge had taken the bicycle with a view to selling it for parts. Mr Ahmed said Coolledge had stolen the bottle of vodka with another man, who was given an eight-week curfew for his part in the theft.