THE mother of a devastated schoolboy who had his “pride and joy” stolen from his school’s bike shed has urged the thieves to return her son’s BMX.

Jane Ward, 39, said the bicycle was stolen only one day after her nine-year-old son had started a six-week cycling proficiency course run by City of York Council.

Jack Ward had only owned the bike for a month and had bought it with cash he had raised from selling old toys and personal items.

Now he hopes the thief will return the bike before Tuesday, when he was due to join friends on the second week of the cycling course and take to the road.

Mrs Ward said the bike was stolen from the bike sheds at Lakeside Primary School, in Clifton Moor, while her son, who is a pupil there, was at an after-school club.

She said: “He is absolutely gutted for two reasons; because he was looking forward to doing the second part of the course with his friends, and also because he bought the bike himself. He is absolutely heartbroken. We went all the way to Helmsley for it because it was such a good deal, and he was chuffed to bits that he had got this new bike. But then he came out of school and it had gone.”

Mrs Ward admits the bike was left unlocked and that her son had learned a “hard lesson”, but still hopes it was not too late for Jack to be reunited with the bike.

“Someone has seen it and just thought ‘I will have that’. I think it was somebody just passing by,” she said.

The bike is a white, X-Rated Snare BMX and has stunt pegs on the rear and front wheels. It was taken on Tuesday, between 3.15pm and 4.15pm.

Anyone with information is asked to phone North Yorkshire Police on 0845 60 60 247