Little Kennie Brierley thanks generous people who replaced his stolen birthday bike

Kennie Brierley

Five-year-old Kennie Brierley, whose dream motorcross bike was stolen just weeks after he got it for his birthday, has thanked the public for donating enough money for him to buy a new one.

Kennie was overjoyed when he received the KTM SX50 Motorcross because it meant that he could ride his bike with Daddy, Ben Brierley.

He was so heartbroken when it went missing that a friend of Ben’s set up a fundraising page in the hope of replacing it – but nothing prepared him for the wave of generosity that followed.

Over £3,000 flooded in in just a couple of days. The kindness of those donating, says Ben, just goes to show how many people have big hearts, and he would like to publicly thank them all via Rochdale Online.

Ben decided not to tell Kennie the reason it had gone missing because he didn’t want him to have a “bad view” of the world, and instead, he thinks his bike was lost.

He said: “He’s only five, I don’t want him be aware yet about the things that go on in this world. It upset him enough that it was gone. I couldn’t bear to watch him so upset, I knew I had to do something.

“When I set up the page I didn’t actually expect to get enough money to replace the bike. I put as much in as I could myself and was just hoping for the best. It blew me away that people were so generous.”

He added: “Kennie is absolutely over the moon. He loves nothing more than to be on his bike and as you can imagine what a big deal it is for him to have one taken away.

“We really should raise awareness of bike theft, it doesn’t get much coverage but it is an issue and people shouldn’t be getting away with it.

“Thank you again to everyone who came forward to help, from the biking community and the people from Cown Leisure who donated so generously. You have all been amazing.”