A cycle thief has been caught and tagged after his victim saw the stolen bike on an internet auction site.

Dean Turnbull, 26, of Highbury New Park, Highbury, was sentenced to an eight-week curfew with an electronic tag, a 12-month community order and 60 hours of unpaid work after pleading guilty to the crime.

In September last year, the 36-year-old victim locked his bike in a shed in a private underground car park – but the next day found it missing, along with two other bikes.

Three months later, one of the victims saw his bike advertised on an internet auction site and told police.

He was able to describe all its scratches and markings.

Police found out the address of the seller from the website, obtained a court warrant and raided Turnbull’s address, where they found stolen bikes.

He was arrested and charged with two counts of handling stolen goods. He pleaded guilty at Highbury Corner Magistrates’ Court.

Det Con Alice Batten of Islington burglary and robbery CID, said: “Thankfully the victims had recorded the identification numbers of their cycles, which enabled us to identify the bicycles recovered as belonging to them.”