Disabled Southsea woman turns detective to track down stolen car as police hunt youths

Hannah Grant, 37, had her ‘faith in humanity shaken’ after her partner Jack Gatford’s Audi A1, which had her disabled badge and child’s seat inside, was stolen from outside her house on St Augustine Road, Southsea, on Thursday at around 7.30am.

But despite the ‘nightmare’ ordeal, Hannah was able to track down the car and have it returned by the end of the day after she used the power of social media - with a Facebook post asking for information being shared 1,600 times.

The victim, who has a number of health conditions including Crohn’s disease, and suffers aggressive allergic reactions, was aided in her quest after Hannah revealed the ‘idiot’ thieves posted images and videos of themselves speeding around the city in the car.

Hannah said: ‘It was a total nightmare. We looked outside and the car had gone. It had my wheelchair, disabled Blue Badge and children’s seat as well as paperwork inside it.

‘I put a post on Facebook and started getting lots of messages from people saying they had seen it being driven around Portsmouth and how the thieves had posted pictures and videos of them driving it on Snapchat. Another lady said she had witnessed the car being stolen by a group of boys.

‘I received lots of messages from people saying they knew who the boys were so I decided to contact their relatives after looking them up on Facebook.’

The car was finally tracked down to Malthouse Road in Stamshaw after being spotted earlier in Locks Heath.

Hannah said: ‘They must be idiots after leaving their coats in the car, a jerry can, bubble bath and deodorant.

‘The car had dents and scrapes, the tyres had gone and the brakes were not so good but it can all be fixed.

‘It beggars belief that anyone can do that at this time and to choose a car with a wheelchair and post Snapchat videos because they think it’s funny. They could have killed someone the way they were ragging the car around.

‘At the start of the day I had lost all faith in humanity but by the end, thanks to the lovely people of Portsmouth, it was restored. I’m so overwhelmed by the lengths people went to to help.’

Hannah was less impressed with the police’s response, though. She said: ‘They told me to fill out an online form to begin with and closed the case at one stage. It was only when we had the car back they went over and took pictures and said they should have enough evidence for a conviction.’

Hampshire police defended its response. ‘Enquiries into the theft continued throughout today, with officers taking witness statements from the owner of the car and his partner, capturing CCTV and securing other evidence to ensure we build a strong case to support any future proceedings,’ a spokeswoman said.

Anyone with information should contact police on 101, quoting 44200126614.

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