Gone in less than 30 seconds – brazen hooded-thief dropped off to steal Land Rover in broad daylight

The £26,000 car was stolen on Tuesday, from outside the home of Liz and Ray Nolan, on Church Hill in Ironbridge.

Liz, 65, told how those responsible had pulled up in another vehicle, dropped off what appeared to be a hooded youth wearing gloves, who then managed to open and steal her Land Rover Discovery in just over 25 seconds.

The theft took place in broad daylight, at 11.57am – but was captured on CCTV.

The thieves even stopped a few miles down the road to dump two oak coffee tables which had been in the back of the vehicle.

Liz said: "You could see that at about 11.30am there was a young lad who walked up the road with a hoodie on.

"He walked up the road and walked very close to our car and then carried on walking past it. I thought that was strange but it must be a coincidence.

"Then at 11.57am a car comes down the road, pulls up, the back door opens and the same young guy runs from this car to our car, he opens the door immediately – it just opened, and within 30 seconds he was in and the car started up. You see the lights go on, the car parked up the street pulled away and our car went off at a rate of knots behind it."

She added: "At 11.57am they were in the car and then 11.57 and 30 seconds the car was gone, it was ridiculously fast."

Liz said that within five minutes of it being taken she had been sent a picture from a work colleague of the coffee tables on the side of the road asking if they were hers.

Liz said she had been told by police that the cars are often stolen to order and it is unlikely to be recovered.

She said a friend who is a former police officer had said organised thieves are often targeting several cars on a trip.

She said: "They normally have a car with three or four in it, they have worked out the cars they are going to steal then they drop them off one at a time and take the cars and the lead car goes back to where it has come from and the people who have taken the Land Rovers will take them wherever."

She added: "I am slightly furious and slightly dismayed.

"I thought I would warn people because there are quite a few in Ironbridge and I don't want this to happen to anyone else."

Liz said she had been astonished at the ease with which the thief was able to take the car, describing it as "scary".

She added that she still hopes police can recover the vehicle.