Sheffield mum: 'I battled burglars outside our home to save e-bike, but they came back'

But days later the thieves returned with bolt cutters and made off with the treasured transport.

Eloise McLean-Inglis was in her kitchen making a bedtime snack for her son when she saw the bike being carried past the window at the family home on Blair Athol Road, near Ecclesall Road.

She said: “Given that my husband was upstairs and my Bull-Lurcher dog was barking his head off, I ran out and saw to my left that our fence connecting to our neighbours had been smashed to bits and two men were lifting my husband’s bike into the neighbour’s garden.”

After seeing what was going on, she ran off into the gennel next to the house to cut them off.

She pleaded with them not to take the e-bike and took hold of it. She was knocked to the ground, but kept hold of the bike as the thieves fled, on November 23.

But thieves returned on December 6 - cutting the bike from chains where it had been secured to the wall. Both crimes were reported to South Yorkshire Police.

The 36-year-old Sheffield international criminology student said: “I was just feeling determined. I thought ‘I’m not having this’.

“It must have all happened in 30 to 45 seconds.

“I wasn’t scared. I saw my dad die of cancer last year, and having seen what he went through nothing scares me any more.

“I’d kept our pet dog indoors in case he hurt them. My only injury was that I hurt my shoulder a little where I landed on the ground. I was polite to them. It’s not in my nature to be rude. I just said ‘please don’t take it, leave the bike’.

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Now, Eloise is keen to make neighbours aware of the problem of burglaries in the area. Police crime maps recently showed a road near her, Peveril Road, be a hotspot for break-ins.

She said she hoped that other bikes may be saved by upgrading security measures and to have people consider the terms of their insurance also to make sure they are complying so they can get their money back if they lose their bikes.

South Yorkshire Police said they responded to reports of criminal damage at Blair Athol Road on November 23, when it was reported that two unknown men gained entry into the garden of a property, causing damage, and attempted to steal a bike.

The force added in a statement: “On Saturday 7 December we received a report of the theft of a pedal bike from the same property alleged to have taken place the previous evening.

“It is reported that an unknown individual or individuals stole a bike from the property between 7.10pm and 7.57pm on 6 December.

“Officers have exhausted all current lines of enquiry and the case has been filed pending further CCTV evidence or information that could identify the suspects coming to light.”