TWO bungling bike thieves have been brought to justice - because they posed for pictures with their loot.

James Francis David Drydale, 25, and Joshua David Greaves, 23, stole motorbikes and bicycles together worth nearly £12,000 as they targeted garages and vehicles outside homes, said Phil Standfast, prosecuting.

On February 21, they tried to outrun police on a motorbike.

But though driver Drydale got away, pillion rider Greaves fell off, as did a mobile phone containing pictures of the pair posing on motorbikes and bicycles they had stolen from different addresses on different days between February 8 and February 22.

Police used the photos to track down what they had been stolen from where and identify and arrest Drydale.

Judge Simon Hickey said the owners of the bikes and motorbikes must have been put to a great deal of inconvenience by the loss of their transport.

Drydale, who was on two conditional discharges at the time, was jailed for 41 months and Greaves for 40.

Both men admitted conspiracy to steal.

For Greaves, Nick Peacock said: “At the time, he was desperate. He had no income. He had tried to access jobs at the Jobcentre. He was incredibly depressed and on medication.”

For Drydale, Susannah Proctor said he had been on drugs, though since being remanded in custody, he had come off them. He wanted to be with his partner and mother, both of whom, said the barrister, had medical problems.

Drydale himself had mental health problems.

Drydale, of Queen Street, Scarborough, and Greaves, 23, of Morpeth Street, Hull, carried out their thefts in the Scarborough area.