Latest news with #JaguarE-Pace
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Yahoo
The Telegraph readers who did the police's job themselves
When Mia Forbes Pirie and her husband Mark Simpson found their Jaguar E-Pace had been stolen from outside their house in west London, they used the AirTag it was fitted with to discover it was now parked less than three miles away. Keen to act as quickly as possible, they contacted the police – who gave no indication as to whether they could help or not. In the end, the couple was forced to retrieve the stolen car themselves. We covered this story earlier in the week, and outrage followed – as did, rather tellingly, an outpouring of weary recognition. Hundreds of Telegraph readers got in touch to say: us too. When our things are stolen – be it bikes, laptops, mobile phones or cars – we no longer expect the cavalry. Instead, we find ourselves playing detective with AirTags, GPS tracking and doorbell cameras. In other words, doing the police's job for them. It is vigilante justice via the apps on our phones. And, given how few thefts result in a charge and how many cases are closed almost as soon as they are opened, it seems increasingly like the best tool at our disposal. John Devaney, a 48-year-old property maintenance worker from the Thames Valley, is still haunted by the memory of waking up to discover his beloved Triumph Stag, a 1970s classic worth £10,000, had vanished from his garage. He turned to the tracker app on his phone. There it was: parked on a driveway 25 miles away. He called the police and gave them the address. 'They said they would send someone at some point in time,' he recalls. 'That it wouldn't be long.' Frustrated and anxious, Devaney drove there himself, hoping to meet the police. After half an hour of waiting, he decided to investigate alone. Under a tarpaulin in the driveway, he thought he could see a shape that looked suspiciously like his car – and when he lifted it to confirm, a man inside the house came out. 'He said he had bought it in a pub last night,' says Devaney. 'I said, 'No, you nicked it from my garage.'' The man then jumped in the car, mowed through the neighbour's hedge and sped off. Devaney followed. Eventually, he found the car abandoned at an industrial park. He rang the police again and waited an hour for them to arrive. There were fingerprints. There was photographic evidence. There was an address. There was even an identity: Devaney says police told him the man was 'known to them'. Still, it was a month before he was interviewed. When the car, which Devaney has now sold, was returned three months later, he was told no further action would be taken. 'I couldn't have handed it to them any better,' he says. 'There was not much more I could have done for them.' According to the police, officers received a report of the theft of a vehicle from a residential property. Detectives carried out a thorough investigation in which a man in his 40s was arrested. Following further enquiries, the case did not meet the threshold for criminal charges. Another Telegraph reader, pest controller Chris Johnson, 59, and his wife Paula, 57, were struck not once but twice at their house in Kent. The first time, a white Jeep Wrangler – worth £45,000 – vanished without a trace. The police issued a crime number, and not much else. Six months later, it happened again. A £39,000 Ford Ranger disappeared from the same spot. This time, however, they had learnt their lesson and fitted it with two trackers. The Johnsons were watching football at home when it happened. 'Someone must have walked straight up and driven off,' Chris says. The tracker showed it heading towards Eltham, and they immediately called the police. No answer. They jumped into Paula's Mini and followed the signal. 'We eventually tracked it to a housing estate in Eltham,' says Chris. 'We tried the police again, but still nothing. We sat there for 10 minutes watching the car, not knowing what we were walking into. I told Paula to get ready. If anything kicked off when I went to get the vehicle, she was to drive off and leave me.' Chris cautiously approached his car, tried his key, and to his relief, it unlocked. The thieves had ripped out most of the interior in an attempt to locate the trackers, successfully finding and disabling the manufacturer's system. But Chris's secondary tracker had gone undetected; he drove it home. The police got back to them hours later. The response? 'Well, you've got it back now.' Paula recalls explaining to the police that they had wanted them there while they rescued their car because they were scared of what they might find. 'He replied that they were overstretched, even having to work on Sundays, and that was that. We never heard anything more.' Since then, the Johnsons have doubled down on security: ghost immobilisers, steering locks, the works. 'If Sadiq Khan is putting up all these cameras and charging us more to drive, then why not use them to track down stolen vehicles?' says Chris. 'Imagine how many cars could be recovered. He might even look like a hero.' A Metropolitan Police spokesman says: 'Every incident of vehicle theft is carefully assessed to identify and pursue possible lines of enquiry, including forensic evidence and available footage. We advise victims to report crimes via appropriate channels.' Sadly, these are far from isolated cases. Ashley Sollit tells us about the night four electric vehicles were stolen from one street in Brent. His son-in-law – who was one of the victims – had an AirTag in his car and traced it to a council estate nearby, where he later found his and his neighbours' cars. He phoned the police, who advised that he should drive his own vehicle home and tell the neighbours to get theirs. This was, apparently, standard practice, as thieves often leave stolen cars out for a week to see which ones have trackers. When it was suggested to the police that the cars should be left in place to try to catch the criminals, the response from the police was short, but clear. 'We don't have the time.' Similarly, Ian Smith writes in with a story about his granddaughter, who had her car stolen from the hospital car park where she works. CCTV captured the crime, but when Smith's granddaughter suggested the police watch the footage, as it clearly showed the make and model of the car that the thieves arrived in, she was rebuffed. Luckily, the car was fitted with an insurance tracker; when it pinged with a location, the police told her to collect it herself. There is something rather depressing about these remarkably similar stories that speak to our new normal. We know, of course, that resources are stretched – but the message felt by many Britons is a stark one: if something is stolen, you're probably on your own. The result? Where we once relied on the police, now we depend on Bluetooth and Apple to keep us safe. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Scottish Sun
12-06-2025
- Scottish Sun
Couple steal back their own car after cops ‘refused to investigate theft'… despite AirTag pinpointing its exact location
The couple equipped their stolen vehicle with an essential gadget GRAND THEFT AUTO Couple steal back their own car after cops 'refused to investigate theft'… despite AirTag pinpointing its exact location A COUPLE whose Jaguar was swiped by thieves have stolen it back after cops failed to investigate the theft. Mia Forbes Pirie and Mark Simpson discovered their motor was missing from its spot close to their home in Brook Green, West London on Wednesday morning. However, the shrewd pair had installed an airtag locator in the vehicle which had been taken to Chiswick shortly after. The couple called 999 but cops told them that they were unable to offer immediate assistance. Unwilling to sit idly, Mia and Mark took matters into their own hands. Mr Simpson, 62, reported being nervous as he made the four-mile journey with his wife to the car's new location. The Jaguar E-Pace - a model that sold for about £46,000 new in 2024 - also had a 'ghost immobiliser' fitted which required the right buttons to be hit on the car's control unit before it could start. The couple found the vehicle on a quiet back street with its carpets ripped apart after thugs attempted to access its wiring. Forbes Pirie, a former solicitor and now an award-winning mediator, and Mr Simpson, a commercial barrister, had installed a series of additional security mechanisms on the car after previously experiencing the theft of a vehicle. Neighbours later reported they had heard unusual noises at night. Mia wrote in LinkedIn post: "[Is] it right that the police seem to have no interest in investigating what is likely to have been a reasonably sophisticated operation involving a flat bed truck… if there are no consequences, what is the incentive for people not to do more of this?" However, she lamented the Met Police's lack of investment. Three people arrested after teen boy dies near pub as cops launch murder probe "The police are under-resourced and it's a shame," she told The Times. "But if there aren't any consequences to people stealing cars or a lot of the other crimes where there aren't any consequences, then I don't really see what the deterrent is to stop people from doing it more." In a statement, Met Police told The Sun: "On Tuesday, 3 June at 10.06am, police were alerted to the theft of a vehicle on Sterndale Road, W14. "Officers spoke to the victim, who shared his intention to recover the vehicle himself. "An Apple Airtag was inside, allowing the victim to view its location and trace it. "The victim was reminded by officers to contact police again as needed or if police assistance was necessary at the vehicle's location. "At 11.23am the victim confirmed with police that he had found the vehicle and that it was being recovered by a truck back to the victim's home address. "This investigation is ongoing and police are working with the victim. No arrests have been made at this stage." It comes after one man who has had his £114k Range Rover stolen four times revealed he always gets it back thanks to an essential gadget. Tom Jaconelli, 39, was left infuriated after his posh 150mph SUV was taken from outside his house yet again. Doorbell footage showed the director of car dealership Romans International, having his 2024 Range Rover Sport P550e snatched just metres from his front door. But savvy Tom had fitted his motor with a tracking system which enabled him to get his vehicle back. He said the car was retrieved when three police dog vans stopped the thief in his tracks. Thankfully for Tom, the motor was found 15 minutes away from Tom's home in Cobham, Surrey. Do you have a similar story? Email
The Irish Sun
12-06-2025
- The Irish Sun
Couple steal back their own car after cops ‘refused to investigate theft'… despite AirTag pinpointing its exact location
A COUPLE whose Jaguar was swiped by thieves have stolen it back after cops failed to investigate the theft. Mia Forbes Pirie and Mark Simpson discovered their motor was missing from its spot close to their home in Brook Green, West London on Wednesday morning. However, the shrewd pair had installed an airtag locator in the vehicle which had been taken to Chiswick shortly after. The couple called 999 but cops told them that they were unable to offer immediate assistance. Unwilling to sit idly, Mia and Mark took matters into their own hands. Mr Simpson, 62, reported being nervous as he made the four-mile journey with his wife to the car's new location. read more in motors The Jaguar E-Pace - a model that sold for about £46,000 new in 2024 - also had a 'ghost immobiliser' fitted which required the right buttons to be hit on the car's control unit before it could start. The couple found the vehicle on a quiet back street with its carpets ripped apart after thugs attempted to access its wiring. Forbes Pirie, a former solicitor and now an award-winning mediator, and Mr Simpson, a commercial barrister, had installed a series of additional security mechanisms on the car after previously experiencing the theft of a vehicle. Neighbours later reported they had heard unusual noises at night. Most read in Motors Mia wrote in LinkedIn post: "[Is] it right that the police seem to have no interest in investigating what is likely to have been a reasonably sophisticated operation involving a flat bed truck… if there are no consequences, what is the incentive for people not to do more of this?" However, she lamented the Met Police's lack of investment. Three people arrested after teen boy dies near pub as cops launch murder probe "The police are under-resourced and it's a shame," she "But if there aren't any consequences to people stealing cars or a lot of the other crimes where there aren't any consequences, then I don't really see what the deterrent is to stop people from doing it more." In a statement, Met Police told The Sun: "On Tuesday, 3 June at 10.06am, police were alerted to the theft of a vehicle on Sterndale Road, W14. "Officers spoke to the victim, who shared his intention to recover the vehicle himself. "An Apple Airtag was inside, allowing the victim to view its location and trace it. "The victim was reminded by officers to contact police again as needed or if police assistance was necessary at the vehicle's location. "At 11.23am the victim confirmed with police that he had found the vehicle and that it was being recovered by a truck back to the victim's home address. "This investigation is ongoing and police are working with the victim. No arrests have been made at this stage." It comes after one man who has had his £114k Range Rover stolen four times revealed he Tom Jaconelli, 39, was left infuriated after his posh 150mph SUV was taken from outside his house yet again. Doorbell footage showed the director of car dealership Romans International, having his 2024 Range Rover Sport P550e snatched just metres from his front door. But savvy Tom had fitted his motor with a tracking system which enabled him to get his vehicle back. He said the car was retrieved when three police dog vans stopped the thief in his tracks. Thankfully for Tom, the motor was found 15 minutes away from Tom's home in Cobham, Surrey. Do you have a similar story? Email 1 Mark Simpson with his stolen car Credit: Mia Forbes
Deccan Herald
11-06-2025
- Deccan Herald
UK couple undertake mission to steal their own car due to Police negligence
A couple in the United Kingdom took part in a mission to steal their own car back from thieves as the police failed to act in their interest. According to a report in The Times, Mia Forbes Pirie and Mark Simpson realised their car was missing from their home in Brook Green, west London. The Jaguar E-Pace was equipped with a ghost immobiliser which is a device that uses a unique code to start the car and therefore preventing reported the incident to the Police to which they responded saying they were too busy to probe into the matter and further added that they would investigate it, but did not give them a specific time frame. The car was reported missing on June 4, the airtag on the vehicle pointed to the fact that it was in their home at around 3:20 am (local time) and in Chiswick at 10:30 a.m. They rushed in search of the car in the absence of the found the car in a quiet alley. Its interior and carpets were ripped apart by the thieves as it looked like they were trying to access its on LinkedIn Pirie posted "I have to confess … it was kind of fun stealing back our own car …`.Pirie further added that if appropriate measures are not set in place for crimes, people will do such unlawful activities. After the car was rescued, Police stated that they would check for any fingerprints. It is presumed that due to the lack of response from the police, many people had touched the car.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Yahoo
‘My jag got stolen and the police did nothing – here's how I got it back'
On television, a crime scene is usually theatrical: chalk outlines, flashing sirens and anxious bystanders whispering behind yellow tape. In reality, (well, my reality anyway) a crime scene is like any other Tuesday morning in leafy west London – just with another car sitting in the space where our Jaguar E-Pace was supposed to be. For a moment, I doubted myself. Had I parked it around the corner? I called my husband Mark who was working (he is a litigator while I am a former lawyer-turned-mediator and coach) to see if he had moved it overnight. When he confirmed he hadn't, we were utterly baffled. This wasn't the first car that had vanished from that spot: about seven years ago our Fiat Abarth had been stolen and, concerned about that, Mark had installed a second immobiliser in the Jaguar on top of the one it came with. This required the driver to press a series of buttons to turn it on – I often had trouble with it so couldn't imagine how a criminal would be able to bypass it. Then we remembered the AirTag. If it was still working, it might show us where it was. Mark opened the app. To his surprise, the car was less than three miles away from our house in Brook Green – on a quiet street in Chiswick called Gladstone Road. It dawned on us that it had indeed been stolen, but that it hadn't gone far. Unsure of what to do, Mark did a quick Google search and then called 999. The police were very busy but said they might send a patrol car at some point – if they did, they would let us know. It was a very uncertain response. Worried that we only had a short window to get the car back before it was gone forever, and desperate to avoid the nightmare of insurance claims, I persuaded Mark that we could investigate for ourselves. We set off in my little Volkswagen Polo, heading to Chiswick. On the nine-minute drive, our natural personalities came out. Mark was cautious and tense: he thinks everything through quite carefully, whereas I am more gung-ho. He grew up in Kent, while I'm a born-and-bred Londoner and have always found it to be an incredibly safe place. I simply couldn't believe that I would be hurt in broad daylight in this city I have always called home. Mark was also worried that people might be hanging around the car while I felt that anyone who steals cars wouldn't want to show their face and so would be unlikely to confront us. In retrospect, I wonder if – as a man – Mark thought he needed to protect me, whereas I didn't feel that responsibility. I just wanted to get the car back as quickly as possible. My biggest fear was that we would find the AirTag abandoned on the tarmac – so much of modern life is about being disappointed, that this seemed the most likely scenario. So when we turned onto the road and saw the Jaguar sitting there, I was delighted. And maybe a little triumphant that our adventure had concluded so well. We inspected the car. Outside, it was untouched, but inside it was a bit of a mess: ripped up carpets and air vents torn apart. Clearly, someone had tried to bypass the immobiliser but failed. Their efforts however, meant the car was now locked; even though we had the keys in our hands, there was no way of getting it home. We stood on the empty street, which had a small block of council flats on one side, for a few minutes before deciding to go back to our house and sort out the problem from there. A couple of hours later, after proving ownership, the Jaguar was delivered on a flatbed by a tow-truck company. Over time, we started piecing together what had happened. The AirTag showed that the car had been in Brook Green at 3.20am, and the neighbours said they had heard a commotion about an hour or two after that, which they had assumed was the binmen coming early, but which must have been the criminals loading the car onto a flatbed. The police had asked us to keep them informed, so we called 101 and told them what had happened. As for fixing the car up, that has been relatively easy – we had to sort out the immobiliser and then put the carpets and the air vent back as they were. The incident occurred last Tuesday and by the weekend, we were driving it to the countryside. I felt slightly icky as we set off, knowing that strangers had been inside, but mostly I was okay. They weren't too disrespectful, and I was grateful for that. What hadn't been made clear was that by fixing it up and then using it, we were destroying evidence. When forensics examined the car a week after the incident, they said there was no hope of finding any usable DNA as far too many people handled it in the interim. Yes, it would have been inconvenient not to use it, but we would have done so if it meant they could have gathered some evidence. Not telling us this was an oversight on the police's part and one I found very frustrating. Still, I am keen not to place too much blame on them. Blame feels good – but it is too simplistic. An officer once told me that it is normal to have 20 urgent calls on a peak night and only two to three people on duty. It is so easy to say that the increase in crime is all the police's fault – but the reality is more complex. The system is broken: there is too much focus on locking people up, but putting them in prison just teaches them how to become better criminals. If you rehabilitate them, then they become better members of society. Sadly, this is not popular with voters - but my hope is that public opinion can change. Mostly, I worry about deterrents. If there are none, crimes like these will only proliferate. The people who stole my car were sophisticated criminals: they knew how to hack an immobiliser and had access to a flatbed. We need to ask whether it is good for society that the police force lacks the funding to investigate them properly – and think seriously about what the consequences of not doing so might be. As told to Melissa Twigg Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
