A thief captured on video by a home CCTV camera in Hackney stole a car in less than a minute using a sophisticated keyless entry device.
A Father-of-two and Hackney resident, who preferred not to be named, watched the event unfold on CCTV footage captured by his neighbour. He has lived in Evering Road, Hackney, for over 34 years.
He says his Mitsubishi Outlander, recently purchased, was stolen from outside his house via a keyless entry device which enables thieves to locate the frequency of a key from inside a house.
It took less than a minute for the thief to scope out the area, get into the car and drive off.
He told the Gazette: "I was shocked at how quickly my car had gone with little effort."
The resident had been out shopping on August 1, in preparation for his daughter's upcoming fourth birthday, when he parked the car outside his home at around 6pm.
It was only on Monday morning that the resident, who works from home, noticed his car missing at around 11am.
After asking the council whether the vehicle had been impounded, the father-of two reported it stolen and was then contacted by his neighbour, whose recently-installed CCTV captured the incident in its entirety.
The footage shows a man wearing a white mask and a dark-coloured hoodie as he gets into a silver car and drives off on August 2 at 12.20am.
The Evering Road resident added: "I have only had my car for a little over seven weeks as me and my wife had our second daughter in April and needed a bigger vehicle which was environmentally friendly and offered safety and space to travel with ease.
"Worst of all they also took the car seats and pram for the kids."
He said the car has not been recovered and he has had to rent a vehicle in the meantime, while his insurer looks into the claim.
He said: "I would strongly advise people in the area with keyless entry vehicles to add extra security such as a steering lock or a signal blocking box to store their keys in."
The police confirmed the crime had been reported and that no arrests have been made.
Learn more about keeping your vehicle safe at www.met.police.uk/cp/crime-prevention/keeping-vehicles-safe/preventing-car-vehicle-theft/
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