Brazen thief caught on camera breaking into vehicles

One victim who lost hundreds of pounds in cash after her bank cards were stolen has shared CCTV footage taken in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The footage shows the thief, carrying a torch, break-in and enter a Kia Sportage before moving to three other cars, and walking calmly away from the scene.

In just 20 seconds the thief goes from car to car and is understood to have been part of a night of misery for drivers in Popert Drive, Ronkswood.

One of the victims, Beata Paczkowska, said the first she became aware of it was when her bank text her about suspicious card withdrawals.

“I was woken up at around half 5 in the morning to text messages from my bank about multiple transactions of around £100 at the shell garage/ budgens at 4.35am,” the victim said.

“I was so confused so I went outside to check my car as that was where I had kept my purse, and found my car window smashed and purse missing of course.

“The purse contained around £300 cash and a business card and credit card.”

The victim said they woke up neighbours who realised their car boot and doors were open, with things stolen.

BREAK IN: The Kia broken into, picture from Beata Paczkowska

“I uploaded a photo of my car to social media and multiple other neighbours came to me saying that their car had been rummaged through as well,” she said.

“By the end of the day about eight neighbours in total had been in contact with us about their cars being broken into just down our road. Luckily one of our neighbours on Popert Drive had a camera and caught some of the incident at around 2am in the morning."

The victim said around £300 worth of damage was caused to the car by the "disgusting" thief.

"It all happened in such a small frame of time, between midnight and 4am.

"We have contacted the police and are hoping to get CCTV footage of the man using the card at the garage and hopefully get a registration plate of the car that he was driving."

Police have said they investigating two thefts, the first taking place between 6pm on May 10 and noon on May 11, when a purse was stolen from the vehicle whilst it was parked on Rounds Road.

And the second was Beata Paczkowska's break-in that took place between 2am and 5am on May 11. 

PCSO Michael Exon, of the Warndon safer neighbourhood team, said: "We are keen to hear from anyone who may have any information relating to the thefts or that may have been in the area around the time of the incident and heard or seen anything suspicious.

"We are also encouraging the community to call us on 101 if they see anyone acting suspiciously around a vehicle."

Anyone with information about the theft or any other suspected crime can let the police know using the online ‘Tell Us About’ form on the website, quoting incident reference 00049_I_11052022. 

Alternatively call Crimestoppers by calling 0800 555 111 or visit crimestoppers-uk.org.