• Danielle Loizou-Lake with her kids on the custom trike. Photo supplied.

A POPULAR local disability advocate has been left devastated by the theft of her customised tricycle in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Danielle Loizou-Lake, director of the non-profit Fremantle Early Learning Centre in Beaconsfield and founder of disability product reviewer AT Chat, says it took six years to customise the tricycle for her spinal injury.

“I really need to get it back, it’s how I get my kids around town,” Ms Loizou-Lake said.

“I can’t got through the process of recreating it – it took years.”

Ms Loizou-Lake said the theft was well planned, with the thief getting past a 1.8-metre fence and locked gates before spending an hour removing the trike, two of her husband’s carbon fibre triathlon bikes and some valuables from their garage.

To get out, the thief had to creep past their bedroom window.”

Ms Loizou-Lake says she spent about $6000 customising the trike, including making it electric and re-engineering the cargo box on the back so her kids could be safe and comfortable.

The trike was apparently spotted near the Phoenix Shopping Centre in Spearwood around lunchtime on Thursday.

by STEVE GRANT