A MUM and her daughter chased thieves who stole two bikes from their garden.

A man was caught walking barefoot around a garden in Winstree Road, Stanway, just after 11pm. He was carrying a bike.

The mother, who does not wish to be named, said her daughter spotted him from her bedroom window.

She said: “All my children were in the house at the time. My daughter is in the room at the back of the house and she heard stones moving.

“She opened the window and a tanned European man in a bright red top with black shorts and bare feet was walking around in my back garden.

“He had my boy’s yellow mountain bike in his hands.

“My daughter shouted loudly and he stopped and stared at her, she asked him to put it down and he threw it over the fence and jumped over.”

The man rode off towards Villa Road so the mum and her daughter jumped in the car.

The mum said: “We thought he got away but when we came back down to New Farm Lodge my daughter spotted the man in question and somebody else in a bright top.

“I pulled in and we both got out of the car and gave chase. They dropped the bike and ran.”

They managed to save the yellow bike from a bush, but when they got back home they discovered a pink and purple bike had also been stolen.

The mum said: “I believe they got in by jumping over the fence as all of my bolts on the gate were shut.

“We put the yellow bike in the house for safety and went back out to New Farm Lodge.

“The man who was in my garden was walking past in a blue hoodie over the top of his red t-shirt and he had flip-flops on. I asked him if he had seen anything and he said he did not speak English and walked off laughing.”

The pink bike was later found in a bush in New Farm Road, along with a red top believed to be the one the culprit was wearing.

The incident happened on Tuesday and another member of the public called the police.

Anyone with information should call 101.