Page Tindell, aged 11, left her purple bicycle parked in the garden of her home in Thornaby on 10 December 2003.

To her surprise a policeman called at her front door two days later, on 12 December 2003, to say that her bicycle had been recovered from a property in the nearby town of Middlesborough.

Cleveland Police had arrested somebody in Middlesborough for other offences and subsequently carried out a search of his home address.  During this search they found the highly visible Selectamark stencil etched marking. This led them to be able to quickly identify the true owner of the bike.

The bicycle had been marked by PC Eddie Lincoln, a Crime Prevention Officer, based at Stockton District Police Office, during a police marking initiative carried out at a cycling event which took place at Page’s School.

Because of this marking, Police were able to return the bicycle to Page before she had even realised that it had gone.