Ex-police officer beaten up by ‘six guys on mopeds’ over £2,000 bike

London is enduring a rise in violent bike-jackings that have left riders injured.

South London has been hard hit with gangs targeting cyclists close to the velodrome in Dulwich.

WhatsApp groups among the city’s riders have been filled with warnings after several incidents in Dulwich and two attempted attacks in Shirley Church Road in nearby Croydon.

But what is sparking the rise in these thefts and how are they happening?

The attackers – often men on mopeds or e-bikes – appear to target riders by cornering them and pushing them off their bikes before fleeing with it. 

This can even happen on busy roads.

There was a string of robberies involving cyclists in Regent’s Park earlier this year and there are fears these incidents were not isolated.

It’s also feared criminals are becoming more brazen.

The warning comes after two members of the Velo Club Londres were attacked in Dulwich last week.

Hanan Hauari, club chair, told Metro: ‘Sadly, this wasn’t an isolated incident – we are hearing of more cyclists being targeted in south London, often while returning from training or commuting. These crimes are violent, coordinated, and clearly escalating.’

Adrian Matthews, 45, an ex-police officer, was riding back from the arena with his 13-year-old son last Thursday, when six men on mopeds suddenly appeared near the South Circular junction.

He was left with a broken rib, bruises, a black eye and scratches when a mob of six men pounced on him and his son near the junction of College Road and the South Circular in Dulwich last Thursday.

The criminals stole Adrian’s £2,000 road bike after ‘kicking and stomping’ on him on the side of a busy road.

Adrian, who was with the Met Police for almost 20 years, said: ‘I kept asking if I had been stabbed as it felt like something went inside. It was a mob.’

He called for more action to tackle bike jacking as attackers ‘know they can get away with it’ and ‘there will be a point where they will kill someone.’

‘There is no defence from them taking your bike. We are trying to get kids to enjoy cycling and kids to go out independently and to stay fit and healthy, and this has just smashed the level of confidence in my family as to whether we can take our kids out again.

He added: ‘Luckily, it was my eldest one – if it had been my eight or ten-year-old, they probably would have been destroyed.’

With the summer holidays starting and children cycling around, he warned that there could be further attacks.

Joe Booth, the general secretary of the Dulwich Paragon cycling club, told Metro that bike-jackers appear more brazen now with a ‘sense of organisation behind it.’

He said: ‘It is not just individuals stealing bikes and selling them online. These are people who have been ordered, and things are then being packaged and being sent abroad.’

He continued: ‘It is sickening and worrying. We have about 400 members, and a significant number are women. It’s easy to say we’re going out as a group, but if you can’t even ride up College Road to meet people and ride confidently to the start of the ride, it will interfere with people’s ability to ride.’

Joe said there are ‘more and more of bike-jackings’ in busy urban areas over the past three years. Previously, the issue was more common in quieter lanes.

He continued: ‘It is like people are less bothered about being seen in busy areas.’

While Joe said he doesn’t know what has caused the rise in these attacks, Adrian said neighbourhoods like Dulwich suffer from huge levels of inequality and poverty ‘next to million-pound homes.’

‘They are prepared for violence’

A similar attack on Friday, June 27, left James Zuccollo with a broken hand when two young men on a moped chased and attacked him on his way back from work on Bowen Drive.

He told Metro: ‘I passed a couple of lads on a moped, who looked like late teens, but it is difficult to say because they were wearing balaclavas and helmets.

‘They pulled in front of me and cut me off, and pushed me off my bike, causing me to crash, then wrestled the bike off me and put it over their shoulder and drove off.’

The thieves got away with James’ Canyon Ultimate road bike, which cost around £4,000-£5,000 ten years ago and was his ‘favourite bike.’

James, who is over 6”4 and not a ‘tiny target,’ said he felt ‘just resignation’ when he realised there was no help in sight.

He continued: ‘Many of us feel unsafe, and I feel unsafe, riding now on my own. I’m very hesitant to do it.

‘That sense of fear that keeps you off the road and out of the countryside is probably the biggest cost.’

Another cyclist, Kiril Piskunow, said he was targeted in Bermondsey on June 15 when two masked men on e-bikes followed before pouncing on him near Bermondsey station on the A200.

He told Metro: ‘I jumped off the bike to avoid being pushed off. One of them got off the e-bike and rushed at me, hand in his hoodie pocket, threatening to stab me. I used the bike to keep some distance but eventually let it go.’

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