A SWINDON drug user stole a police bike after being told to take it by dealers he owed money to, a court has been told.

Darren Karl Moore stole the pedal cycle, belonging to Wiltshire Police, on March 14. The bike was locked on a rack near The Parade in the town centre.

It was found nearby and he was caught on CCTV taking it.

A month earlier, he had stolen a bike valued at £350 belonging to a member of the public from outside his place of work in Greenbridge; it was never recovered.

Appearing before Swindon Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday (April 26), Moore, of Ferndale Road, pleaded guilty to two counts of theft of a pedal cycle.

But his barrister, Liz Highams, told the court that the 31-year-old had got into a drug debt at the time of the offence and the people he owed money to told him to steal the bike.

“Two males came down from London and was threatening him and told him to steal that bike,” she said.

“He did feel threatened by those males,” she said, but admitted the statutory defence of duress was not met here.

Ms Highams added that he is now in stable accommodation and is engaging with services to help with his addictions.

“His debt is paid off. He does still take street drugs,” but he is working on it, she said.

Meanwhile, probation officer Michelle James said that he had fallen into a “black hole” and “fell in with the wrong people”.

She said he was using “nearly every day”, a reduction on previous interaction they had with him, but added: “There’s no other drugs in the picture. To give him credit, he has recognised he needs to do something about his drug use.”

Magistrates said his willingness to work was a “positive”, but added: “At some point you know you have to get off the drugs.

“If you stay on them you are on that downward spiral all the way.”

Moore was given a 12-month community order, which will include a 6-month drug rehabilitation order and 10 rehabilitation activity days.

He must also carry out 60 hours of unpaid work so he can “keep busy” and away from drugs, whilst chairman of the bench said it was “only fair and proper” that he pay £350 in compensation to the victim of the Greenbridge bike theft.