A WILTSHIRE man is appealing to the motocross community for help to track down a £10,000 bike stolen just after Christmas.

Geoff Bracey, 55, advertised one of his four motorcycles, a RMZ450 motocross bike, for sale and was messaged by a potential buyer the same evening.

That night, four young men who wore hats or hoodies and were careful to mask their faces, broke into a garage next to his home in Studley Rise, Trowbridge.

They stole a limited edition Ken Roczen Honda CRF450 which he had bought last July and had never ridden because he had broken his right arm in an accident.

The bike is predominantly red with blue and white flashes and the number 26 on the side over the rear wheel.

A Wiltshire Police spokesperson said: "We would like to hear from anyone with information about a Red Honda CRF450 motocross bike that was stolen from a property in Studley Rise, Trowbridge.

"The distinctive twin exhaust motorcycle, which has the number 26 on the side panels and the front, is thought to have been taken from the property on Friday 30 December at about 4.15am."

Geoff, a former electronics engineer who suffers from ME, said: “I had bought it for myself. It had everything that I ever wanted. I was treating myself out of my pension money.

“I bought it for £5,000 but it has special WP ‘White Power’ suspension worth a further £5,000 fitted to the front and rear wheels.

“The bike will stand out because you will rarely see a bike fitted with that kind of suspension."

He has offered a four-figure reward for the return of the stolen bike but says “I’m not going to say how much".

Mr Bracey has raced motocross bikes for the past 30 years.

He says he had inadvertently included the whole of his Trowbridge postcode when he responded to a message from a would-be buyer for the RMZ450.

“I only messaged one person and intended to put only the first three digits of my postcode but the predictive text included the last three digits.

“The same night four youths came in a car and stopped in Holbrook Lane.

“I have CCTV footage of them going down the road and looking into different gardens because they knew there was a bike in the area.

“The CCTV footage shows one of them wheeling the bike down the road at 4am on December 30. It was stolen the same night as the message was sent.

“My alarm went off but by the time I had got down to the garage, the door was open and the bike had gone.

“I rang the guy back but he denied all knowledge but he came from the Weston-super-Mare area.”

Mr Bracey has since moved his other three bikes to a safer location and has fitted CCTV cameras and tracking equipment.

Mr Bracey added: “I have been waiting for years for the alarm to go off. I’ve lost a lot of weight since my bike was stolen.

“It has caused a lot of stress. I didn’t eat a single meal for nine days and I’ve lost about one and a half stones which has made my ME worse.”

The Honda CRF450 is a four-stroke motocross bike built by the Japanese motorcycle manufacturer.

Police added: "If you know where this bike is, are offered it for sale or have any other information that could help reunite it with the owner, please call us on 101 quoting log: 54220135875."

Alternatively, call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.