Ruislip & Eastcote & Northwood Gazette
Elusive ‘racing bike bandit’ is caught by police
A HAYES motorbike rider wanted for knife crime was finally knocked caught by police who had seen him get away too many times.
Omar Registe swapped his St Christophers Drive home for six months in jail at Uxbridge Magistrates’ Court on Christmas Eve after he admitted to carrying a lock knife.
The 37-year-old, dubbed the ‘racing bike bandit’, was wanted for knife crime for several months but had made a habit of eluding police on his racing bike.
Registe had twice not shown up to court while on bail and twice police had to catch him again.
His three-month run from police ended on December 15, when an officer on foot managed to knock him down in Shakespeare Avenue while he yet again tried to ride away.
Registe pleaded guilty to one count of possession of an offensive weapon and was sentenced to six months in prison and ordered to pay £85 CPS costs and a victim surcharge of £115.
On September 5, Registe was stopped and searched by police in Hamborough Road, in Southall, and found with a lock knife hidden in his waist band.
He was charged and bailed to appear in court on September 19 but never showed.
Police had spotted him several times since then but each time he was on a moped and managed to get away.
On December 15, the same officers saw him in Shakespeare Avenue – and this time they had no more patience.
Police say Registe was on a racing bike and got off to walk up to an address they suspected was involved in drug supply.
Police tried to detain him then and there but he made his way back onto the bike and drove off at speed.
He might have got away once again were it not for an officer on foot who struck Registe while he rode towards him and knocked him down.
It took several officers to bring him in because of his “level of violence”, police told us.
Just as it looked like police had finally got their man, Registe was bailed on December 16 and told to come back to court, but he did not show and another arrest warrant was put out for him.
This time police were onto him quickly and tracked him down to the Polish War Memorial on December 23, where he was arrested after a “violent struggle”.
“A few bumps and scrapes for the team but glad to have this person back in custody,” Hayes police told the Gazette. Registe appeared before magistrates on Christmas Eve and started the New Year behind bars.