Gillingham to Strood trail of stolen motorbikes and a suspicious stranger

At least 10 motorbikes in Medway have been targeted by thieves and officers are now releasing CCTV images of a man who may be able to assist with enquiries.

Medway Motorbike Thefts — **Do you recognise this person?**

Between Friday 3 January and Sunday 19 January 2025, emergency call handlers received eight reports of vehicle theft and two reports of attempted vehicle theft from addresses across Gillingham, Chatham, Rochester, and Strood. On each occasion it is alleged a group of men attended a residential property and stole a motorbike.

Officers are treating the reports as isolated incidents but are not ruling out the possibility that the events are linked.

Investigations are underway into the theft of:

Suzuki motorbike from an address near Priestfield Road, Gillingham between 9.30pm and 10.50pm on 6 January
Honda motorbike from an address near Canterbury Street, Gillingham at around 7.35pm on 7 January
BMW motorbike from an address near Island Way East, Chatham at around 2.30am on 9 January
Honda motorbike from an address near Woodlands Road, Gillingham at around 8.30pm on 11 January
Yamaha motorbike from an address near Gillingham Road, Gillingham between 1am and 2am on 15 January
SYM motorbike from an address near the A2 Chatham Hill between 7.30am and 3pm on 18 January
KTM motorbike from an address near St Margaret’s Street, Rochester between 10am on 18 January and 7am on 19 January
Honda motorbike from an address near Rochester High Street, overnight between 3 and 4 January

Two more attempted thefts were reported from the King Arthur’s Drive, Strood, and Binland Grove, Gillingham areas on 10 January.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the north Kent appeals line on 01634 792209, quoting reference 46/5016/25. Local residents with private CCTV or drivers with dashcam, who may have been in the area at the time of any listed incident, are also asked to check for footage.

Advice on how motorcyclists can protect their vehicles, can be found on the Kent Police website, here: Protect your motorcycle, moped or scooter from theft